The Gilbert Twins
by InfinityxInfinityforevz
Summary: Elena and Avalon Gilbert are trying to cope with the aftermath of their parents death. What happens when they meet certain Salvatore brothers and get thrown into a world of the supernatural?
1. Pilot

The Gilbert Twins Ch.1

Avalon's POV

Another year of school. It had just been a few months since my parents died in a car crash. My sister was also in the car but thank god she survived. We were all coping in our own way. Jeremy turned to drugs, Elena has been trying to live life normally, and I well, I don't know. I didn't really grieve yet. I usually just suppressed the feelings because I had to be there for my twin, Elena when she broke down. Jeremy didn't come to me that much but I made sure to let him know he could always talk to me.

I walked up to the mirror to take in my appearance. Me and Elena were identical twins. When we were little we would always trick people into thinking we were each other because there weren't any major differences in our appearance. As I got older though, I put just a few red streaks into my hair so people could tell us apart. That's pretty much the major difference between me and Elena.

Personality wise, we were pretty similar but you'll just have to see later on. I put my hair into my usual ponytail; I rarely put my hair down. Only for special occasions or events. I put on a white graphic T-shirt and some black skinny jeans and waited for Elena to finish writing in her diary. She's been doing that every day since the car crash. I guess that's her way of coping.

I poked into her room to find her in front of the mirror. "Ready Twinzie?" I asked. She smiled. "Yea, let's go." We headed downstairs. "Toast. I can make toast?" "It's all about the coffee Aunt Jenna." "A cup for me too Elena, please." Jeremy walked in. "Is there coffee?" She handed me and Jeremy a cup. "It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared." Aunt Jenna was rushing around like a mad woman.

"Lunch money?" "We're okay." Me and Elena said at the exact same time. I rolled my eyes. "We have got to stop doing that." "A number two pencil? What am I missing?" "Don't you have a big presentation today?" "I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at...now. Crap!" "Then go, we'll be fine." I hugged Jenna before she ran out the door. "You okay?" Elena asked Jeremy. "Don't start." Elena and I headed out the door to meet Bonnie.

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic."Our ancestors were from Salem which isn't all that, I know crazy but she's going on and on about it and I'm like put this woman in a home already!"Bonnie said. I tuned out after that and pulled out my sketch pad. I enjoyed drawing. It made me calm and felt peaceful. I don't know why but I felt like drawing a crow. I continued sketching until the car came to an abrupt stop. A bird or something flew across the windshield and Bonnie swerved. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

"What was that?! Oh my God! Elena, Are you okay?" I looked over to see Elena looking kind of panicked. "It's ok. I'm fine. Ava?" She turned to look at me. I was kind of hyperventilating but i gave her a nod to show I was going to be fine. "I'm so sorry guys. It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere." "Really, we can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life." I nodded in agreement with Elena. "I predict this year is going to be kick-ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy." She restarted the car and we headed back on the path to school.

I separated from them and just walked around the halls for a bit. I found them staring at some new dude's back and saying he's hot. "Come on guys, seriously?" I rolled my eyes at their gawking. Elena went over to the boys bathroom following Jeremy. I din't want to get in between that right now so I just stayed with Bonnie. We made it to Tanner's class and there was a total staring triangle going on. Matt was staring at Elena while Elena and the new kid were staring at each other. I noticed Bonnie and Elena texting secretly under their desks.

After school, Elena and I walked to the cemetery where we would usually sit in front of our parents' grave. Elena would write in her diary while I would sketch. Coincidentally, a crow was sitting on their headstone which was perfect since I was sketching one. "Okay Hi bird. That's not creepy or anything." My twin said. I thought it was pretty cool. Fog started to cover the graveyard. Now it was getting kind of creepy. It felt like a scene from a movie. The bird kept squawking so Elena shooed it away.

"Come on Lena, it was my model." I pouted. "Yea well it's getting creepy and was being annoying." She turned around to face the crow again. I guess it really did not want to leave. Elena slowly grabbed her stuff and pulled me away from it. She looked back to see a man covered by fog. Now I really feel like I'm in a horror movie.

She grabbed me and started dragging me. We kept running until she tripped and fell which made me trip and fall too."You okay Ava?" She asked. I held a thumbs up and she helped me get up. We turned around to come face to face with the new kid. "You guys okay?" He nearly gave me a heart attack. I saw how he kept staring at Elena so I decided to leave them alone. "I'll meet you outside Lena."

I walked away from them and just sat down and took in the scenery. It was a pretty depressing scene. There were graves everywhere and fog covering the ground. I guess a cemetery isn't where you should sightsee but I thought it looked nice so I took out my sketchpad again. "You're drawing the cemetery?" The voice came out from nowhere. This time I did have a heart attack. I jumped up and screamed which ended up with me falling back down. "Ow." I opened my eyes to see a blue eyed man. He chuckled and then helped me up.

"You okay there?" He asked. I rubbed the back of my head which kind of hurt. "Yea, you know you shouldn't sneak up on people like that." He grinned. "I'm sorry." "That's alright. So you visiting family here?" I asked trying to make conversation. "yea, how about you? Your here just to draw a graveyard?" He asked. "I'll have you know a graveyard is a very appropriate place to... to..-yea I got nothing." We laughed. "Your weird." He stated rather bluntly. "Uhh. thanks?" He chuckled. "A good weird. Here you are. drawing a cemetery and having a conversation with a man you just met."

I barely realized i was talking to a complete stranger. He seemed very nice though so I decided to introduce myself. "Right. Well I'm Avalon Gilbert. My friends call me Ava." He smirked. I guess he really enjoys smiling. "Can i call you Ava?" I thought about it for a bit. He was a total stranger but for some reason I felt like I could tell him anything. "Not yet. Let's stick with Avalon for now." The man just smirked again. How odd. "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore." "Huh. Like Stefan Salvatore?" "Yes, he is my baby brother. You know him?" "Not personally but he has History with me. And I think he likes my twin sister Elena." I noticed Damon kept taking steps closer to me.

"Well then, we might see each other more often."He said with a smirk. "Yea, I guess. Well I better get going. It was nice meeting you Damon. Say hi to Stefan for me. Bye." I walked off. "Nice meeting you to Avalon." I turned to see him gone already. How weird. Eh. I found Elena and we headed off back home.

"You sure you don't want to come Ava?" "Yea I'm sure. Go have fun. You need it Lena." "Thanks. See ya." She walked out of my room. I went to sleep after surviving the first day of school.

The next morning in History,Tanner was being a jerk again as always. "How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" "Uhm.. A lot?I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." I smiled. "Cute becomes dumb in an instant ." And there goes my smile. "Mr. Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" "It's ok . i'm cool with it." The class giggled but Tanner went on to torture Elena. "Hmm. Elena? Surely, you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" "I'm sorry. I- I don't know. " That was the last straw for Tanner. "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." That made me mad. I was about to go all out on Tanner but Stefan spoke up before me.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians." "That's correct. mister?" "Salvatore." "Salvatore, any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" "Distant." "Very good except, of course there were no civilian casualties in this battle." "Actually there were 27 sir. Confederate soldiers. they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. the founder's archives are stored in Civil Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner." Oh! burn! Take that Tanner. The whole class held in their laughter.

Later in the night was the school's kick off party. Bonnie and Elena were talking about Bonnie being psychic. I saw Stefan being dragged by Caroline. Poor guy. It wasn't really my scene so I found a quiet place to sit and sketch.

Later on, I heard Elena screaming for help. I got up and ran to her. I saw Vicki bleeding in Jeremy's arms. "Somebody call an ambulance!" "Everybody back up, Give her some space." "It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood." I tuned everything out and was focusing on Vicki. I dint't know her that well but she didn't deserve to die. And then I started feeling dizzy. I touched my head and saw on my fingers, blood. I was bleeding. How was I bleeding. I started to feel really light headed and eventually I gave in. I heard Elena screaming my name and shaking me trying to get me awake before I just lost consciousness.

Stefan's POV

I turned around to face the one man I never wanted to see. "Damon." "Hello brother." "Crow's a bit much. Don't you think?" "Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." "When did you get here."

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school. Your hair's different. I like it." "It's been 15 years Damon." "Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember Stefan, It's important to stay away from the fads." "Why are you here?" I asked my tone rising a bit. I was getting frustrated with him.

"I miss my little brother." "You hate small towns. it's boring. There's nothing for you to do." "I've managed to keep myself busy." "You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you." "Ah. That can be a problem...for you." "Why are you here now?" "I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into 3 little words. Elena and Avalon."

Elena's POV

I watched Matt go into the ambulance truck to stay with Vicki. Poor Matt, Vicki didn't deserve this. Bonnie walked up to me and said:" Hey, we're going to go mainline coffee. Wait for news." I nodded. "I gotta take Jeremy and Ava home. She's still unconscious but I'm sure she'll wake up." I was pretty worried about Ava but she faints a lot. Lately she has been experiencing many panic attacks but she always gets through them.

"Elena, there's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling..." "Bonnie, what?" "That it's just the beginning."

Stefan's POV

"They took my breath away. Elena and Avalon. They're a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working Stefan? Being around Elena? Being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?"He smirked. "She's not Katherine. Neither of them are." "Well let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something. When was the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

"I know what you're doing Damon. it's not gonna work." "Yeah?" he pushed me. "Come on, Don't you crave a little?" "Stop it." I couldn't give in to his intentions. He pushed me again, harder this time. "Let's do it together. I saw a couple girls out there. Or let's just cut to the chase." He shoved me again. "Let's just go straight for Elena!" I shoved him back. "Stop it." I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me.

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!"The veins started showing under my eyes. "I can." I just knew my eyes were red and my fangs were extended out. "I said Stop!" I growled and lunged for him. We flew out the window. I landed on the cement. "I was impressed." I turned to see Damon leaning on the bushes. "I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole"- he did an imitation-"thing. It was good."

"You know it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." "That's a given." "Not here. I won't allow it." "I take that as an invitation." "Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" "I promised you an eternity of misery so I'm just keeping my word." "Just stay away from Elena. And Avalon." "Where's your ring?" I touched my finger where the ring was supposed to be but it wasn't there. "Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple hours, and, poof ashes to ashes." He chuckled. "Relax. It's right here." He held out his hand with the ring for me to take. I eyed him for a bit before reaching to take it.

I put it back on. Suddenly a hand grasped around my throat and I was sent flying into a wall. I landed in front of Damon's feet. "You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again. I think we woke Zach up. Hmm. Sorry Zach." He started walking away but he stopped. "Avalon says hi by the way." And he continued walking back into the boarding house. In that moment, I knew I had to protect Elena. I also had to protect Avalon. I cannot let Damon get his hands on them. I headed over to Elena's house. I had to know she was okay.

She saw me at her window and came down to open the door. "I know it's late, but uh, I needed to know you were ok." "You know for months, that's all anyone's wondered about me. If I'll be okay." "What do you tell them?" "That I'll be fine." "Do you ever mean it?" "Ask me tomorrow. It's warmer in the house. We can talk. Would you like to come in?"I smiled. "Yes."


	2. The Night of the Comet

The Gilbert Twins Ch.2

Avalon's POV

I woke up today feeling kind of sick. All I remember from last night was Elena and Jeremy running in with Vicki bleeding and then fainting. Now, I'm in bed but in the same clothes from last night. I got up and took a shower. I tried to be quick but the water felt so nice. I took about a good 10 minutes before forcing myself to get out. I changed and then headed over to Elena's room.

She was up already of course but she seemed to be smiling and happier. It kind of made me feel a little bit better. "Hey sis, what's got you in a good mood?" She just smiled at me and hugged me. "Nothing, how are you feeling?" "A little sick but much better. Come on let's go." I dragged her out of the room. We ran into Jenna on the way out.

"Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?"She asked. "Depends where you're going." Elena replied. "Jeremy's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" She put all her hair up. "Sexy Stewardess." She put it down. "Boozy housewife." Elena said. "Up it is. You're feisty today." "I feel good,which is rare so I've decided to go with it. Fly free, walk on sunshine, and all that stuff." "Does that have something to do with a certain Salvatore?" I added.

"Maybe. Where's Jeremy?" Elena peeked into his room to find it empty. "He left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse." Elena and I exchanged confused looks then turned to Jenna. "There is no wood shop is there?" "No." Elena and I said at the same time. "We have got to stop doing that."I said shaking my head. "Yeah."

In Tanner's class, he was talking about tonight's comet while Stefan and Elena kept staring at each other. "Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore? Ms. Gilbert?" They shook their heads and then the bell rang. Saved by the bell. I sat by my usual tree sketching the day by.

After school, I was with Caroline, Bonnie and Elena discussing Stefan amongst other topics. "Well, I was talking to Grams and she said the comet was a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed or paranormal activity." Bonnie explained. "Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens."Caroline mocked.

"So then what? She asked Elena. "So then nothing." "You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline said disbelievingly. "Nope didn't go there." "Not even a handshake? I mean, Elena we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut." "Ugh not to me. No that's just gross." I pointed out. "We just talked for hours."Elena answered. "Ok, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already. Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex." "Uhm no" I added.

"Profound." Elena replied before turning around, grabbing her stuff and getting up. "Where are you going?" Bonnie asked. "Caroline's right. It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying I was going to do. Ava? Can you drive me somewhere?" "Uhh sure." We walked to the car and headed for Stefan's house.

We pulled up the driveway and I almost swallowed flies with my mouth gaping so wide. "This is his house?" I asked. "Well it was originally a boarding house. The Salvatore boarding house." She said. "We walked up to the door. Elena rung the door bell and no one answered so I knocked on the door. The door just opened so I walked inside. "Ava!" "What? It's open. Come on." She reluctantly followed me into the house.

"Stefan? Stefan?" Elena yelled. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. This place was huge like mansion huge. The floor creaked and we turned to face the door but a crow came screeching in. It flew right at me and I fell backwards. I closed my eyes waiting for the impact to come but it never did. I felt arms wrapped around my waist and I opened my eyes to see a familiar set of blue eyes staring down at me.

"Damon?" "Hello Avalon. You okay there?" He asked. "Yea, thanks." "We have got to stop meeting like this." He said with a smirk. I then realized his face was just inches away from mine. He was still holding on to me until Elena coughed awkwardly. He pulled me up and didn't tear his eyes off of me. "Sorry for barging in, the door was-" I turned to see the door closed. "Open." "That's alright." He turned to Elena. "You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother. I've already met your sister Avalon." "He didn't tell me he had a brother." Elena said. "Well Stefan's not one to brag. Please come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."

He guided us to the living room. I still felt a bit lightheaded but it went away as soon as I saw their living room. "This is your living room?!" I exclaimed. "Ava!" Elena scolded. "What?" I said. Damon just chuckled. "Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." I gasped. "Kitschy?! Your living room is like the size of my house!" I pointed out. Damon laughed.

"Again with the weirdness." Elena chuckled. "My sister is beyond weird." She said. "Hey I'm more normal than the average human being." I said. Damon scoffed. "Says the girl I found sketching a graveyard." "...No comment." We all burst out laughing. "I see why my brother is so smitten." He said to Elena. "It's about time. For a while there I never thought he would get over the last one." He continued. "Nearly destroyed him." Wow, poor guy.

"The last one?" Elena asked confused. Oh no, this isn't good. "Yeah, Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet." "Nope." Awe I felt bad for Elena now. "Oops. Well I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think eh was on the rebound."Oh hell no Stefan. "We all know how those relationships end." Damon added. I scoffed. "You say it like all relationships are doomed to end." He turned to me. " Well I'm a fatalist. Hello Stefan." he said without taking his eyes off me.

I looked to see Stefan standing a few feet behind Elena staring at Damon. Wow, if look could kill. "Elena, Avalon. I didn't know you were coming over." "I know, i should have called, I just-" Elena didn't finish due to Damon interrupting. "Oh don't be silly, you're welcome any time." He then turned to me. "You too Avalon." I smiled in response and he turned back to Stefan.

"Aren't they Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums, or some home movies. But I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." I giggled. "Thank you for stopping by, Elena and Avalon. Nice to see you two." He said, never stopping the intense staring at Damon. Elena got the hint and said:" Yea, we should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon. Come on Ava." I headed over by Elena's side. " Great meeting you too, Elena." He held her hand and kissed it. Then turned to me.

"It was a pleasure seeing you again Avalon." He lifted up my hand too but I quickly stopped him. "Uhh yea you don't have to do that. It was nice seeing you too Damon." I reached up and hugged him goodbye. When I pulled away he seemed surprised but quickly covered it up with his usual smirk. I would've hugged Stefan too but he never stopped the eye thing with Damon so I left him alone. Elena and I headed for the door but Stefan was in the way and didn't budge.

"Stefan? Stefan?" Elena said. He snapped out of the trance for a second and moved aside for us to pass. And I'm the weird one? We got in the car and headed home.

Damon's POV

"Great gals. They got spunk. I see how you could be attracted to Elena. And Avalon, she's a keeper. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you over exert yourself today? Let me guess, hospital."

"Well someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan said in his usual brooding mood. "Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right." I smirked.

"How long were they here?" "Were you worried Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, "I'm a high school human"?

"I'm not playing any game." "Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it." "What kind of game are you playing, Damon?" "Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" With that, I walked away.

Avalon's POV

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." Elena said. I was in the kitchen with Elena and Jenna where Elena was eating away her feelings. "Well at least it's an ex girlfriend. Wait until you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues." Jeremy walked in and Jenna went to go lecture him.

"Don't worry Lena. I'm sure Stefan isn't making you his rebound." I assured her. "I hope not." I stole some of her ice cream. "Hey!Your stole ice cream." "That's what sisters are for Lena." I giggled my way out of the room.

Later on, in the town square, I ditched Bonnie and Elena who were passing out pamphlets. I strolled and saw Damon standing by the fountain. I decided to walk up to him. "Hi, what are you doing here?"

He turned around and seemed to look surprised but then he answered. "Just passing by." "Alright, you going to watch the comet tonight?"I asked. "Nope, how about you?" "Uh I always watch the comet and then sketch it. It doesn't change much over the years." "You and your sketches. Can I see them one day?" I hesitated. I didn't let many people see my sketches but if they did only the non-personal one. I guess it wouldn't do any harm. "Sure." "I hope things aren't awkward between Elena and Stefan after yesterday's events.

"Uh I'm pretty sure it's beyond awkward but I trust Lena to do the right thing." "And what's that?"He asked. "Follow her heart." He stared at me for a bit with his icy blue eyes. I broke the silence by speaking up. Well I better get going and help Elena and Bonnie. I'll see you soon, I guess." I walked up to him and hugged him. He seemed bewildered for a second before hugging me back. "You sure do this hugging thing a lot." He said. I pulled away and he seemed reluctant to let go but he did. "Of course. I always hug my friends." He smirked. "So I'm your friend now?" I smiled. "Maybe." I started walking away. "Bye Damon." "Bye, Avalon."

Stefan's POV

I bumped into Matt out on the street. "Hey."He said "Hey." "Have you seen my sister?" I started to get worried. What if Damon had gotten to her? "No, sorry." "I can't find her. She's missing." "I'll keep an eye out for her." I started to leave but Matt called after me. "Hey, I saw you at the hospital the other day." "Did you?" "What were you doing there?" "Visiting." "Visiting? You know, Elena and I, we've always known each other for a long time. We might not be together right now, but I look out for her. And I'll always look out for her." I would've replied but I could hear Vicki screaming and Damon's voice. "Excuse me." I left Matt and speeded up to the roof where Damon and Vicki were.

"No! No!" Vicki screamed. "Shh, I'm not gonna drop you." Damon said. "Have you been eating bunnies?" He asked me. "Let her go." I said. "Shh. really? Ok." He pushed her to the edge. "No!" She screamed. "No!" I yelled. Damon pulled Vicki back and shoved her to me. "Ugh! Relax." "What's happening?" A confused Vicki said. "I don't need her to be dead, but...you might." He turned to Vicki. "What attacked you the other night?" "I don't know. An animal." She answered.

"Are you sure about that? Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?" She thought about it for a bit but finally came to realization. "A vampire." Damon continued on. "Who did this to you?" "You did!" She screamed. "Wrong." I knew what he was doing. "Don't." I told him. He went on anyways. "It was Stefan." He grabbed Vicki and compelled her. "Stefan Salvatore did this to you. He's a vampire. A vicious, murderous monster." "Please Damon please don't do this." I interrupted. "If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you can do now." Damon ripped off Vicki's bandage where it was bleeding and shoved her to me again.

"Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need." I felt the veins under my eyes appear and the blood lust was getting to me but I couldn't give in. "But you can change that. Human blood gives you that." Damon said. I threw Vicki, who was sobbing and screaming "No!", to the ground. I groaned trying to fight the blood but Damon wasn't making it any easier. "You have two choices. You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run screaming vampire through the town square."

I grunted. "That's what this is about? You want to expose me?" I asked. "No! I want you to remember who you are!" he said. "Why? So what, so i'll feed? So i'll kill? So i'll remember what it's like to be brothers again. You know what. Let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you." Damon just grinned and walked over to Vicki.

He whispered something in her ear and she seemed confused. "What happened? Where am I? Oh, I ripped my stitches open." I guess Damon had compelled her. "You okay?" I asked. "Ah I took some pills man, I'm good." She got up and left. "It's good to be home. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake-up call, don't you think?" Damon said. "What are you up to Damon?" "That's for me to know and for you to ...dot dot dot. Give Elena and Avalon my best." He walked away.

Avalon's POV

I survived another day. Things seemed to be going normal. I was worried about Elena though. I didn't want Stefan to hurt her because I could tell she has fallen for him. She went over to the boarding house tonight to try to fix things between them. I hope things go well between them. I also think I made a new friend. Well, he's sort of my only friend. Damon seems nice yet mysterious. Well I started down this path and I think I'm going to follow it. Let's hope I see him again tomorrow.


	3. Friday Night Bites

The Gilbert Twins Ch.3

Avalon's POV

After Stefan and Tanner's epic showdown during history, Elena and I decided to go to cheer-leading practice. We walked up to Bonnie who was stretching and at the sight of us immediately jumped up. "Oh my god, you guys are here!" She hugged us both. "Yup we can't be sad girls forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were are to do things that were. Oh and you're coming to dinner tonight."

She turned to me. "You too." I joined her as she stretched. "I am?" Bonnie said smiling. "Mh-mm. You, me, Ava, and Stefan." Oh bye smile. Bonnie gave Elena a look. "You have to give him a chance." Elena said. "But tonight's no good. Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times." "Don't change the subject Bonnie Bennett. You're going to be there." Elena said sternly. "Fine! I'll go." She gave up. "Good." And we all continued stretching.

Minutes later and Caroline still didn't show up for practice. "Seriously. Where is Caroline?" Bonnie said. "I don't know. it's not like her." I said. "Try her again." Elena said. As Bonnie pulled out her phone we heard loud music playing and turned to see Caroline in a car with Damon. "Uh.."Elena pointed toward their direction and Bonnie turned around. "Oh my God. that must be the mystery guy from the grill." She said. "That's not a mystery guy." Elena said. "That's Damon Salvatore." I added.

"Salvatore, as in Stefan?" Bonnie asked. "I got the other brother, hope you don't mind. Sorry i'm late girls. I, uh was busy. All right, let's start with the double pike herkey hurdler, What do you say?" Caroline announced. I sighed before turning to see Damon smirking at me. I just smiled in return before going back to sighing at cheer-leading. He drove away and I guess I got my hope fulfilled.

Later on that night was the dinner with Stefan. It started out silent and awkward but Elena broke the ice by talking about Stefan and football. But Bonnie wasn't making it easy. Then the topic changed to Bonnie's heritage, the Salem witches. Stefan seemed to say the right thing and Bonnie was impressed as well I guess dinner had been successful but the night was not over.

The doorbell rang. "I wonder who that could be." Elena said. "I'll get it." I got up and headed towards the door. I opened it to see Caroline holding a cake with Damon standing behind her. "Surprise! Bonnie said you guys were doing dinner so we decided to bring dessert." Caroline said as peppy as always. "Oh." I said. "Hope you don't mind." Damon said. I just smiled at him while Caroline came in giving me the cake. Stefan and Elena came in as well. "What are you doing here?" He asked Damon.

"Waiting for Elena or Avalon to invite me in." He said. "Oh. Yeah, you can just-" I started to say but Stefan cut me off. Rude. "No, no, no. He can't, uh, he can't stay. Can you Damon?" Wow this thing was seriously weird. "Get in here." Caroline said. "We're just finishing up." Stefan said. Geez, what's up with all these excuses. "It's fine. just come on in." Thank you Elena! He walked in. "You have a beautiful home." He complimented. "Thank you." My twin and I said at the same time. I groaned. We have got to stop doing that.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Oh, Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Said Caroline. We were all hanging out in the living room. "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. you have to go get it." Damon said. "Yeah, Elena and Avalon weren't so lucky today. It's only because you guys missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines." Wow Caroline, how nice. "I'll work with her, she'll get it." Awe, Bonnie to the rescue. I smiled at her.

"I guess we could put them in the back." Elena and I exchanged looks probably saying why the hell is Caroline being so rude? "You don't seem like the cheer-leader type, Avalon. You too, Elena." Damon said. "Oh, it's just 'cause their parents died. Yeah, I mean, they're just totally going through a blah phase. They used to be way more fun." Bonnie shot Caroline a pointed look.

I could tell Elena was looking at me but I found the ground very interesting at the moment. Our parents were a very sensitive subject. I tried to fight the tears back. "And I say that with complete sensitivity." Caroline added. "I'm sorry girls, I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've cared about die." Damon said.

What's with the talk about death now. This subject was really getting to me. On the other hand, I felt bad for Stefan and Damon. "We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan said. "Ah, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up." He said. i'm pretty sure her was Katherine. God so much talk about death and more time in that room and I would've broken down. "I'll clear the table." I got up and left that room as quickly as possible.

I was loading the dishwasher when Damon came in and said:"One more." He handed me a cup but I didn't grab onto it. It dropped but Damon was quick to catch it. I laughed. "Nice save." "Well, I try." He smirked. "You okay? It seemed what Caroline said really got to you." I looked down. "Yea, let's not discuss such matters." He raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, Weird girl." I looked at him. "Weird girl? Really?" He chuckled. "Well you won't let me call you Ava so until then, Weird girl it is."

"Weird girl?" Elena walked in with a look of confusion. "Don't ask." I said. She laughed. "I like you. You know how to laugh and you make Stefan smile which is something I haven't seen in a very long time." He said to Elena. "Earlier, did you mean Katherine?" She asked. Seriously? Well, I guess it's good for Elena to hear this. "Mm-hmm." "How did she die?" She asked. "Seriously Lena?"I said. That's a bit personal.

"It's alright. In a fire. A tragic fire." he answered. "Recently?" She asked. "Well, it seems like it was yesterday." "What was she like?" Elena asked. "She was beautiful. A lot like you two in that department. She was just very complicated and selfish, and at times not very kind. But very sexy and seductive." He said. "So which one of you dated her first?" I asked. I put together the pieces and came to that conclusion. "Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." Wow so much drama.

"I would quit cheer-leading if I were you guys." Oh how i wish. "Why do you say that?" Elena asked. "Oh I saw you two at practice. You guys were miserable." "You saw that?" I asked. "Am I wrong?" He said. I sighed. "We used to love it. It was fun." Elena said. "Things are different this year. Everything that used to matter doesn't anymore." I added. "So don't let it. Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta-da." He makes it sound so easy. "Some things could matter again." "Maybe but seems unrealistic to me." He stared at us for a bit before I decided to speak up.

"Stand up." I said. He looked at me in confusion and so did Elena. "Damon, stand up." "Please?" I added. He finally stood up. I walked up to him, put my arms around him and hugged him. Lena looked at me in confusion and I was certain he was too. I pulled back but I still kept my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry." I said, sincerely. He looked around in confusion. "About Katherine." I elaborated. "You lost her too." He smiled back at me and I let go of my arms. Bonnie came in and we started folding napkins together while Damon joined Stefan and Caroline in the living room.

The next day I went to Elena's room.I looked at her outfit. "Why aren't you in uniform?" I asked her. "I could ask you the same thing." She said. "I'm going to quit cheer-leading." I said. "Me too." We smiled at each other. "Great. We can face Caroline's wrath together."

We met up with Stefan who gave Elena a really pretty necklace. I was about to go leave them alone when Stefan called me. "Avalon. I wanted to give you this." It was a bracelet with a charm that had an "A" on it. "Thanks but you don't have to ." I said shaking my head. "It's fine take it. It's a sign of our new friendship." I chuckled and took the bracelet. "Thank you."I left Elena and Stefan to their kissing while Caroline approached me. "And you're not in uniform because?" She said with her hands on her hips.

I wondered around the back field which was empty, waiting till the game started. I felt a rush of wind. "Hello there." I jumped and turned to see Damon standing there, smirking. "Geez you have got to stop doing that." i took a seat on the grass. He chuckled. "Sorry. So what are you doing wondering this lonely field." He sat down next to me. "Talking to you." "Touche." I stared up into the sky, looking at the stars.

"I take it your parents are a touchy subject, am I right?" I looked down and then at him. "Yes, well we can talk about it but there's no guarantee I will say much." "Well what can you say?" He looked into my eyes. I thought about what to say. "All I can say is that I miss them, especially my dad. i was always a daddy's girl while Elena was mom's favorite. He used to make me laugh a lot and we had a lot of fun memories together. he would take me to sight see so I could sketch the scene. I really miss doing that. That's all I can say for now." I finished. "That's okay. It's enough."

I looked at him confused. "From all that, I can tell that 1. you love your father, really miss them, and try so hard to not break down in front of people." I looked at him bewildered that he could see that. "You started to break at the end of your explanation but you held it in. I take it you do that a lot for the sake of your siblings." He explained. "Don't worry Avalon, I'll keep it secret but know that you can always come to me." I stared at him. "Ava." I said. He looked at me confused. "You can call me Ava now." he grinned and we continued to watch the stars for a little while.

Later on, the game started and Tyler and Jeremy got into a fight. I looked over to Elena who was already on it. Jeremy grabbed a broken bottle glass and slashed it at Tyler but it cut Stefan instead. I went over to Jeremy. Elena was being parental but Jeremy stormed off. She went to go check on Stefan's hand but surprisingly, it was okay. Better than okay, it was nonexistent. Both Elena and I swore we saw him draw blood. What a confusing night. She went over to Bonnie to ask about her vision of Stefan.

I was getting a bit lonely and it was getting late so I went to find Elena. I found her at the parking lot. She was standing by her car with Damon and then she slapped him, hard. "What the hell!" She said. I gasped and ran over there. "I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight, I am not Katherine." I heard Elena say. I made it up to them but she stormed off. Come on I just found her. I went over to Damon who looked confused and was holding his chin. "Are you okay?" I asked him. I examined his face for any scratches or marks.

"Yea, I'm fine."He answered. "Why did she slap you?" I asked. "Well, uh, I may have tried to kiss her." he said hesitantly. "What? Shame on you but still she shouldn't have slapped you. I'm going to go and make sure she's alright. Please don't do anything stupid again, Damon." I hugged him and left to go after Elena. I finally found her and we left to go home.


	4. Family Ties

The Gilbert twins Ch.4

Avalon's POV

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." We heard Jenna say. We exchanged confused looks as we headed into the kitchen. "Who are you talking to?" I asked. "Him."She said referring to the TV screen. "The news guy?" I said. "Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell." She replied. "Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"She asked. "Oh no way. You and him? He's cute." Elena said sitting sitting down.

"He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him. What are you doing with that?" "I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the Founder's Council for their heritage display." Elena explained. I sat down and helped her polish the antiquities. "Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked. Jeremy walked in. "Originally it was Great Great Grandma Mary's wedding ring." I said. "How much do you think this stuff is worth you know, like on Ebay?" Jeremy said taking the pocket watch. "You're not going to find out."Elena snatched it back.

"That stuff is mom and dad's you can't just give it away."he said. "I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan Jeremy." The doorbell rang and Elena went to go get it. Judging by how long she took, I'm guessing it was Stefan. So I headed outside for a walk. And then I realized something. I got in my car and drove over to the boarding house.

Luckily the person who I wanted to see answered the door. "Hello, Ava." "Hello, Damon." I smiled at him. "What brings you here?Miss my company already?" He smirked. I scoffed. "Would you like to come in?" He asked, gesturing me towards the door. "Nope, because we aren't staying here." I grabbed his arm adn dragged him outside. "What are you doing?"He asked.

I whirled around to face him. "Are you my friend?" I asked him in a serious tone. "Do you want me to be?"He smirked. "Damon, I'm serious. To me, you're my friend and there's something that I do for all my friends. So, Damon Salvatore do you consider me to be your friend?" He thought about it for a moment. "I don't have any friends." he said. "Well, I'm offering to be your friend." I stated. He thought about it again before nodding.

I got in the car and Damon followed doing the same. We drove in silence before we finally arrived to where I wanted to go. I stepped out and walked towards the lake. "What are we doing here?" He said looking around. "Have you been here before?" I asked. "Many, many years ago." he looked pained so I didn't ask him to elaborate.

"Well this is something I do with all my friends. After I officially consider them to be my friend, I take them to a special place and we spend the day getting to know each other, bonding. I chose this place for us to bond because of the scenery." I sat down on the ground overlooking the lake, getting out my sketchpad. Damon sat down beside me. "Alright, what's with the sketchpad?" He asked. "Well I have a portrait of all my family and friends. So I'm going to do one of you." He smirked. "Alright but get my good side." I rolled my eyes.

"You know I don't have much friends either." I admitted. He looked at me curiously. "How so?" I sighed, getting ready to explain my lonely life. "Well, I had my dad. He was technically my bestest friend. He would hang out with me after school and whenever I had free time but he had work also so he wasn't always available. Then there was my mom. She always played with Elena, me not so much. Elena and I were thick as thieves, twins that never separated. Jeremy and I were tight as well. Bonnie was Elena's friend first. I hung around them so much that she just became my friend too. Same with Caroline, although I could never really stand Caroline's need for clothes and constant yapping." He laughed at that. "Now that is true." I smiled and continued on.

"Then came the car crash. Everything changed after that. I lost my dad who was my best friend. My mom was gone and I became distant with Elena. Jeremy never really talked to me but we had an understanding. I would be there for him if he needed it and vice versa. As for Bonnie and Caroline, I became distant with them as well. I shut myself out from everyone. I stayed in my room most of the days, sketching and listening to sad music. Even at the funeral, I stayed only for a little while. Once the coffin was lowered into the ground, I ran home and locked myself inside. I broke down and cried and cried. But then, I thought I saw what looked like my dad. That day I made a promise to stay strong for Elena and Jeremy. I got my act together and was there for them when they needed it but we never really reconnected our sibling bond. You're actually my only true friend." I fought back the tears was I was done explaining.

He stared at me and then reached for my hand. It felt comforting and I relaxed a little. "My whole life everyone has chose Stefan as a first choice. My father, Katherine, I was always used to being the second choice." he said. "Well your my friend and not Stefan if that makes you feel any better." I told him. "Why are you my friend?" He asked me. I thought about it for a bit before answering.

"Well believe it or not, you're not bad company. You seem to understand my weirdness and you can be nice when you want to. I mean unless you're going to drag me around to shop, then really you're only flaws are being cocky and egotistical. You act before you think. But you're not as bad as you think you are." I gave him a smile.

We continued talking for a while. I told him about sketching, and he told me about some of his travels over the years. For some reason, I felt very at home with him. He made me laugh and genuinely happy which is something I haven't felt in a long time. After all that talking, I finally finished the portrait by the time we finished talking. I closed my sketch pad and put it away. "What? I don't get to see it?" I turned to see Damon pouting. I giggled at his face. "Nope." He pouted again. "Please?" I looked at him. Hesitantly, I got the sketch pad out, turned to his portrait and handed it to him.

Damon's POV

"Please?" I asked her. Reluctantly, she took out her sketchpad and gave it to me. I looked down. It was an exact copy of me in charcoal etching form. It was absolutely amazing. And she got my good side. I smirked. I looked over at her, she was staring out into the lake. This girl is so weird. Willingly becoming my friend? She caught my eyes and smiled at me. A genuine happy smile. I smiled back at her. This girl is something special. "Well we better get going if you don't want to be late for the Founder's party." I said. She groaned. "Ughh, I hate that party." "Well, I'll be there this time so it should be interesting." I smirked. "See, egotistical." She rolled her eyes. "Come on." I got up and I helped her up. I gave her back the sketchpad and she drove me back to the Salvatore boarding house.

"Here you are." She said as she got out of the car and walked with me to the door. "Alright, well today was fun. I guess I'll see you at the Founder's party." She reached up and hugged me. Wow this girl really has a habit of hugging. I hugged her back and she let go. "Why do you always hug me goodbye?"I asked. The question has been nagging at me. "Uhh, I don't really know. I always hug people, usually when they're feeling down though. But since you're my friend and you haven't been sad, I hug you goodbye instead. Hopefully it shows that when you need me, I'll be there to hug you and comfort you." She smiled. I looked at her questioningly.

"Come on Damon. Can't a girl hug her friend? And I mean it, if you need me I'll be there. I take friendship seriously, alright?" I nodded at her and smiled. She is definitely a keeper. I heard the sound of footsteps and a smirk played its way onto my face. "Can I have one more hug?" I asked. She smiled and hugged me once again. This time I hugged her back and held her until the door opened to reveal an annoyed Stefan. Avalon pulled back but not in embarrassment. "Hi Stefan." he nodded back at her. "Well I better get going." She said. "See you at the Founder's Party. I promise I'll make it a fun night." I said smirking. "Alright. Bye. Bye Stefan." She hugged me once again and then waved at Stefan before strolling back to her car.

I looked at Stefan who was not happy. "What?" I asked him. "You know what." "No I don't." I shoved past him and headed to get ready for the Founder's Party.

Avalon's POV

Bonnie, Elena, and I were getting ready for the Founder's Party in the bathroom. Bonnie and I were curling our hair while Elena went to answer the phone. Then she stormed through and went into Jeremy's room. I followed her just in case something happened. She slapped off his earphones. "Ahh! God what now?" he asked. "The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena said. "What watch?" Jeremy asked.

"The one you stole from Mom's box. Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called me, freaking out. It was on the list Jeremy and she can't find it. And she thinks she's the one who lost it." Elena explained. "Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it." He said. "Don't even play that card. Jeremy, you took it. If i go online, am I going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" She said. "Elena!" I scolded.

She ignored me though. "Screw you." Jeremy said before getting up. He reached behind one of his shelves and took out the hidden pocket watch. "I would never sell this, okay?" He said. "Because it's supposed to be mine. Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him and now what?" He said putting the pocket watch in Elena's hand. "And he was going to give it to you." She said. "Yeah." He answered before putting his earphones back on. "Look Jeremy, it's still yours okay? Mom promised Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?" Elena said, trying to fix this. "Just take it and get out." I walked out of the room with Elena. I felt bad for Jeremy, I had to give him the pocket watch.

I finally finished getting ready and walked into the bathroom where the pocket watch was. I took it in my hand. Elena came in and looked at it. She nodded in approval about what I was going to do. I smiled back at her before heading into Jeremy's room. I placed it on his desk and then walked away.

I walked into the Lockwood mansion solo seeing as I didn't have a date. I found Elena and Stefan staring at the Original Guest Registry. "Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?I heard her say. "What?" I interrupted as I went over to her. She moved aside so I could see. Strange.

"The original Salvatore Brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually." Damon said as he walked in with Caroline. "We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan said. I kind of felt like the fifth wheel standing next to Elena. Stefan and Elena were standing next to each other in front of Damon and Caroline who were standing the same way. "It's not boring Stefan.I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena said.

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance and Damon won't dance with me." Caroline whined. He shook his head. "Could I just borrow your date?" She asked Elena. Whoa that's kind of out of line. "Oh, uh" Elena stammered. "I don't really dance." Stefan said. i could tell he was uncomfortable by this and trying to get out of it. "Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all." Damon said. "You wouldn't mind would you, Elena?" Caroline asked. "It's up to Stefan." She said. I could tell she was getting annoyed. "Well, sorry but I'm not going to take no for an answer." Caroline said, dragging Stefan away with her.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being such a world class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm acting out, trying to punish Stefan." Damon said. Great, now only if I could get Elena to apologize for slapping him. "For what?" She asked. "It's all in the past. I don't even want to talk about it. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." He said.

Damon proceeded telling us a little bit more about the original Salvatore brothers. Then Elena left and Damon went to find Caroline so I was left alone. I sighed and went to find one of them. I found Damon watching Stefan and Elena. "Hi." I said walking up to him. He raised his glass at me. "Want one?" He said. "No I'm underage and even if I wasn't, i wouldn't drink." I said. "Alright but you won't have any fun without it." He said. I laughed. I saw that Elena had stormed away from Stefan. Stefan stared at Damon before walking away as well.

"What was that about?" I asked Damon. "I have no idea." He set his drink down and held his hand out towards me. "Come on." I looked at him confused. "Dance with me." He said. I looked at his hand and then back at him. "Why?" I asked. "To have fun." He stated simply. I looked at his hand again before taking it. He led me over to the dance floor. He placed his hands on my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck."I'm not very good at this." i told him. "Awe, come on, you're doing fine."

We waltzed around for a bit before Damon said he had to go. But before he left, he spun me around and then I landed into a dip. His face was very close to mine and he was leaning in. He kissed my cheek then pulled me back up. He smiled then left me standing there. oddly, I felt cold suddenly, like the warmth just left my body. I shook it off and walked around the property. I was staring at the fountain when I felt a presence behind me.

"Well, what are you doing out here all by your lonesome?" The voice said. I jumped and turned to see Damon standing there smirking. "God, Damon you scared me." He chuckled. "Sorry." I put an arm around my waist and led me back to the crowd of people. "So what were you doing?" he said. "passing time till I can leave this place." I told him. He laughed. "That bad of a night?" He asked. "Well aside from the history lesson about your ancestors and dancing with you, yea it's pretty boring." I said honestly. "Ah but I did make your night much better didn't I?" "Yes you did." I smiled at him which he returned.

We stood there for a bit before Elena came over looking very mad. She pushed Damon back. "Elena!" I said. She ignored me, yet again. "There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her." Elena warned before walking away. "Uhm, i'm sorry for my sister's rude behavior. So what'd you do to Caroline?" I asked. "Uhh, I may have bit her a few times." He said hesitantly.

I groaned. "Ew that is not something I needed to have in my head." "Well you asked." He said. "Could you warn a girl next time." He rolled his eyes. "But why is Elena so mad?" I asked. "I honestly don't know. I'm going to go find out. I hope you had a nice night." He said. "Well thanks to you, I did." I pressed a kiss to his cheek and hugged him before he walked away.

I headed home after that in my car since Elena should be getting a ride home from Stefan. Tonight was actually okay. I used to dread these Founder's Parties but tonight was different. I guess Damon had a big part of that. Oh well, I changed clothes and then headed to sleep.


	5. You're Undead to Me

The Gilbert Twins Ch.5

Avalon's POV

Lately, Elena and Stefan have been having a lot of drama lately. I wanted to ask Elena what was it about but I didn't want to pry so I left it alone. She'll come talk to me when she is ready. Today was also the Sexy Studs carwash. I did not want to wear a bikini so I just went in my regular clothes. Of course when I arrived I immediately got an earful from Caroline and a scolding. God that girl just does not quit.

Later on, I went to help Caroline go find some more towels but she was acting really weird. She stopped in the hallway and looked around staring at the empty hallway. "Caroline? Are you okay?" I asked her. She seemed like in a trance and started walking away. I hesitated but then decided to follow her.

Minutes of walking later, we arrived at the Salvatore boarding house. "Caroline what are we doing here?" I asked her. "I don't really know." She said not even turning to face me. She continued heading inside the house and I decided to follow her. She walked all the way down to the cellar. "Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me." I heard Damon's voice through the bars. My eyes widened and I pushed Caroline to the side to see a very very weak Damon looking very sick and pale. "Damon?" I said. "Ava? Can you help me?" He said very weakly.

"Of course. What happened?" I looked at the door trying to open the lock. "Caroline some help please?" I asked her. Together we pulled on the lock and it opened. "No! No!" A man came running in pushing the door back. "Get out of here. Run!" He said. I could see Damon trying to fight against him but he was still very weak. I didn't want to leave him there but Caroline ran. Damon finally busted the door open. He reached for Zach's neck and snapped it.

I cried out in pain as I felt a sharp pain in my neck but it went away quickly. Damon looked at me for a second before flashing away somewhere. How did he run so fast?

I went after him and saw him somehow burn in the sun. I kneeled down next to him as his face healed straight away. When he saw me his eyes darkened and turned veiny. My eyes widened. He gripped my hand really tight and started to stare at my neck really hungrily. It all adds up. Why his name was on the guest registry and why he was biting Caroline. I guess the sun's not a friend.

So Damon Salvatore was a vampire. I'm guessing so was Stefan which is why he doesn't talk much about his past to Elena. It all started to make sense. I snapped back to reality as Damon extended his fangs. I thought about it for a bit and then I knew what I had to do. I used my other hand and extended it out towards him. "You can drink." I told him. He hesitated. I knew he needed this and he could very well kill me but that was a risk I was just going to have to take. I moved my wrist closer to his face. "It's okay." He looked at me for a second before turning to my wrist. His fangs sunk in and I bit my lip so I wouldn't let out a yelp. Even though he was drinking, he seemed gentle about it. I didn't feel much pain afterwards but I was losing some energy.

He seemed to notice this and stopped. He wiped his mouth and looked at me. He bit into his wrist and extended it towards me. "What are you doing?" I asked. "You lost quite a bit of blood. This will heal you. Here." He put it closer to my mouth. I thought for a second before shaking my head. "No. You're weak and you barely have enough strength now. You need all the blood you have." I pushed his hand away. He stared at me for a bit. "Thank you." He said. He got up but stumbled a bit so I stood and held him up. He started walking towards the door so I helped him as he walked.

"Vampire or not, you are still my friend." I told him. I honestly meant that. "You are so weird you know that." I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because you never let me forget." He chuckled slightly. "But seriously, you jut found out I was a vampire and you let me drink your blood. Why?" He asked in a serious tone. I stopped in my tracks and faced him. "Look, you are my friend. Perhaps my best friend and definitely my only friend. I don't know if you feel the same way but I have opened up to you and you make me happy. Your friendship is really important to me. And being your friend, I have to stick by you even through your deepest darkest secrets. Friendship really matters to me. I haven't had someone to talk to in a very long time. So stop questioning it and just get on to where you were going." I told him.

He looked at me as if he was finding it hard to believe me. He finally looked at my eyes and saw that I was telling the truth and started to walk so I followed. "I do feel the same way you know. I do consider you my friend and you're probably my only friend." I smiled at his words. "But I don't think you're going to want to stick around once you see what I truly am." He said. "Well we'll just have to see, won't we?" I said. He nodded and we made our way to the Mystic Falls graveyard.

He turned and faced me. "Wait here." I did as I was told. I assumed he was here to feed since he needed his strength. I waited by a tree while he was catching his next prey. I heard Vicki Donavan's voice. Oh no! Poor Matt. I didn't really like Vicki but she didn't deserve to die. I didn't want to watch but yet I found myself staring at Vicki trying to help Damon. He suck his fangs into her neck and I felt a sharp hiss of pain in my own. Vicki was screaming and I was holding back my own screams. It was like Damon was feeding on me too. It was so strange.I felt tears threatening to spill but I didn't let them. I held back the pain until Damon finished. I sighed in relief as he drop her body to the ground. He looked at me strangely. "I need to talk to you later." He nodded before heading further into the graveyard. I followed him and stood by a tree as he found some more humans to feed on.

Stefan's POV

Zach was dead. Damon had escaped. I grabbed a stake and ran to the door. I had to find him before he hurts anybody else. I almost ran into Elena who was standing outside the door. She was breathing heavily. "What are you?"


	6. Lost Girls

The Gilbert Twins Ch.6

Avalon's POV

I watched as Damon finished drinking the last of the stoned people people. I was confused. Why had I not had a reaction to them like I did to Vicki. I was also glad though, I did not enjoy that pain. "Do we really have to burn the bodies?" I asked. "Well unless you want the town to discover vampires are in Mystic Falls" He said. "Okay I got it." He poured alcohol onto the last dead body and started dialing someone's number.

Damon's POV

"Hello?" Came Stefan's usual brooding voice. "I want my ring." I told him. "Where are you?" He asked. "I'm at the Sizzler. I had the buffet." I said as I was getting a torch with fire. I walked over there but a hand stopped me. Ava grabbed the torch and headed over to the body. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "What are you doing?" I mouthed. "It's okay." She mouthed back. I looked at her before nodding and letting her go. "Where's my ring?" I repeated to Stefan. "I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?" He said.

I watched as Ava headed over to the dead body, torch in hand. "No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement, starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you buddy." Ava hesitantly lowered the torch onto the alcohol soaked victim. She watched him burn. I sped over to her and held one of her shoulders reassuringly. "You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town going to believe, huh?" Stefan said. "I know how to cover my tracks Stefan. Where's my ring?" I repeated once again.

"I gave it to Zach to hide." I tensed and gripped Ava's shoulder a little more harshly than I wanted. She winced slightly but put one of her hands over mine. I relaxed my grip. "Guess you probably shouldn't have killed him." Stefan continued. "Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?" He was slightly getting on my nerves. "I'll get it back, but I need some time." "What did you FedEx it to Rome? Where is it? I want my ring Stefan. Or my next stop's Elena's. Come to think of it, I have Avalon here right now."

I felt her tense. "I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen." He threatened. "Don't give me another reason to rip you apart." I countered. "Yeah? Is that going to be before or after you get your ring back." He said. "Just get it." I said hanging up. I looked over to Ava. She seemed uncomfortable. "Did you mean what you said about what you're going to do to me?" She whispered uncertain if she could ask. I thought about it for a bit before answering. "No, of course not, what would I do without my only friend?" I told her. "What about what you said about Elena?"She asked. "Uhh, maybe but don't worry I won't hurt her at least not tonight." That earned me a elbow in the ribs. "You are so nice." She said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Yup."

I headed over to Vicki's body and poured alcohol on her. Surprisingly, she started coughing. I kneeled down beside her. "You just don't wanna die, do you?" I picked her body up and sped over to the Salvatore Boarding House. I laid her on the couch and then headed back to get Ava. She was pacing back and forth. I sped over behind her. "Ahh!" She screamed then punched my arm. "Ouch." "Stop scaring me. I thought you left." She said.

"Awe, and leave my friend behind?" I said. "Shut up." I picked her up bridal style. "What are you doing?" She asked. "You might want to brace yourself." I told her. "What? Why?- Ahh!" I started running back to the boarding house. I finally made it to the living room. "You can open your eyes now." She opened her eyes and I gently put her down. "Okay. Next time can you warn me first." "Uh I kind of did." She rolled her eyes. "Well, make yourself comfy. We're gonna be here a while." I told her.

Avalon's POV

I plopped down on the couch. "Where are you Stefan? I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and I don't do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring." Damon said as he poured himself a drink. "So I'm guessing this ring is what helps your sunlight situation?" I asked. "Ooh someone's got their thinking cap on." He said. "Ha ha" I said, sarcastically. "Aw, don't get blood on the couch. Please." He said to Vicki who was on bleeding on the couch. He went over to check the wound.

"I got you good didn't I?" He said to Vicki. "Yes, it hurt like hell by the way." I answered. He gave me a confused look before turning back to Vicki. "Well you're not going to be any fun today. I'm so gonna regret this." He bit his wrist and then put it in Vicki's mouth. "Drink it up. Don't drip. There you go. Good Girl." He said to her. "So vampire blood heals people too?" I asked. "Yes, obviously."He said. Hmm, one of the good things about being a vampire I guess. I just lied on the couch and eventually fell asleep.

I was awoken by someone shaking me. I opened my eyes to see icy blue eyes staring at me. "Good, you're awake. I was getting bored." He said putting my legs up and sitting. He put my legs back down on his lap."Where's Vicki?" I said looking around. "In the shower. So let's talk about what you said earlier." "What?" I was confused. "You know, you said my bite hurt like hell even though I was biting Vicki." "Ohh right. I don't know. It was like as you were biting her, the same thing was happening to me. It was painful by the way but I felt better once you were done. Weird thing is I didn't feel it for any of the other bodies you drained so I don't know." I told him. He seemed to be contemplating for a bit.

"Okay so you're my friend right?"He asked me. "Uhm yea why?" I went over to the kitchen and then came back with a knife. I looked at him confused. "What are you doing with that?" I asked. "Do you trust me?" He said. "Maybe." I answered. "Well, I have a hunch about what you are." "What I am?" "Yup, alright so let me demonstrate." He took the knife and slit his arm. I felt the same thing happening to my arm and I was bleeding. The pain didn't last very long since he was a vampire and healed.

"Yup I was right." He said. "Right about what?" I asked. He sat back down on the couch with me. "You are an empath." He stated. "An em- what?" I asked. "An empath. You have the ability to feel other people's pain and emotions. Maybe even over time change them." He said. "Whoa. Wow." I was amazed. That's awesome but then I groaned. "What? It's awesome." He said. "Yeah but if I hang around you and Stefan all day, I'm going to be feeling pain 24/7." I said, sighing. "True but hey, you get what you get." He said. I rolled my eyes. "Just don't tell Stefan and Elena about this yet, okay?" He said. "Okay. Whatever. Omigod! Elena! Stefan must have told her right? I mean he has to. Oh no! She must be going out of her mind." I said. "Well you took it well." He said. "Yeah well I'm not Elena." "That is very true." He said.

"I'm going to check on our other guest." He said. "Alright. I'll be here." A few minutes later, they both came back into the room. Vicki in her underwear and Damon's shirt unbuttoned. "Uh" I looked over at him. "I'm bored so we're going to party." He said. He put on loud music and Vicki was dancing around like a maniac. "I am so over Tyler, so over him. I knew from the beginning that I was only a pice of ass to him, but I thought maybe if he got to know me better, he might see something more. But no, Jeremy on the other hand. That's all he's ever see in me is something more, and I like that." She vented.

"Jeremy, huh? Elena and Ava's brother?" He looked over to me. "Yeah. Yeah. So, Elena used to date my brother and they were always together, so Jeremy would always be hanging around and crushing on me-Hey why don't you have a girlfriend? You're like totally cool and so hot." She said. "I know." I scoffed at his self pride. "Don't you wanna be in love?" Vicki asked. "I've been in love. It's painful and pointless and overrated." He replied. I felt bad for him. katherine must have meant a lot to him. "Except when it isn't." Vicki said. "No more talking. Let's dance." He said twirling and dipping Vicki.

I laughed at how wild they are. Vicki was still dancing around why Damon sped up to the stairs. He started dancing funny and I giggled, throwing a pillow at him which had no effect of course. They started going up the stairs so I followed to make sure they weren't doing anything stupid. They started trashing what I'm guessing was Stefan's room. I sighed and just laid on the bed while they created chaos. I figured it was good for them to let loose once in a while. I thought about the times I used to have fun. Damon got his hand in the sunlight which burned him and of course me too. He picked up a picture and stared at it for a while occasionally glancing at me. I wonder what that was about.

After staring at the picture for quite some time, he made his way over to me and held out his hand. I looked at him confused. "Come on. Let's dance." He said. "I don't think so." I told him. "Please?" He asked and pouted. I knew there was no way I could argue so I took his hand and got off the bed. He put his hands on my waist so I put mine around his neck. He pushed me closer to him and I was practically hugging his chest. We started slow dancing and it felt nice. Damon can be nice when he wants to. Other times he's a murderous monster who does bad things. What a friend I chose right?" Vicki eventually sobered up a bit and plopped on the bed.

She started crying and whining as Damon and I danced. "My mom spends most of her time in Virginia Beach with Pete. He drives trucks. I don't remember my dad but from what I gather, he's not worth remembering." She said. I always knew Matt and Vicki had it rough but they're strong so they got through it. "You're life is so pathetic." Damon said. I scoffed at his bluntness. "Yeah, I mean, I'm the screwed up one. Matt's got it so easy. He's the golden boy. I mean, he's gonna get a football scholarship and marry Elena and have a lawn mower and some babies and when I think about my future, I just come up blank." She said.

I never thought of her that way. I mean I always thought Vicki was tough and didn't really care about those things but now I guess she's as vulnerable as the rest of us. Damon pulled away and faced her. I kind of felt empty without him close to me. God, what's happening to me. "You are so damaged." he told her. "Yup." She said. "I mean, you don't have one hint of self-esteem." I nudged him for his rudeness. "Nope, none." She said. He walked up to her. "I think I know what can help you." He said. "What's that?" She asked. I was confused as well. "Death." Before I knew it, he sped over to her and snapped her neck.

I gasped and held my neck. A sharp pain vibrating through my body. "What'd you do that for?" I asked. "Come on, I just gave her a new life." "Well next time can you tell me that you're going to snap somebody's neck so I can leave the room first?" I told him bitterly. My neck still hurt like hell. "Sorry." He said and sped over to me. He pushed my hand away and rubbed my neck. It felt soothing, I could feel the pain going away. "Thanks." I told him. I realized we were so close that if he leaned in any closer, we would kiss. His eyes caught mine and we stared a bit before I pulled away, looking down. He looked kind of disappointed but shrugged it off.

He headed over to the window and kept putting his hand in the sunlight. Burning and then healing, burning and then healing. What he was't doing was acknowledging that I felt everything. I winced as it burned my hand but then healed. He seemed to notice and stopped. Vicki started to come to. She groaned and got up. "We were dancing and then-"Vicki started. "Then I killed you." Damon interrupted. "What?" She said, not believing it. "You're dead." he said. "I'm dead?" She asked. "Yeah, well let's not make a big deal out of it. You drank my blood, I killed you, and now you have to feed in order to complete the process." He explained. "You're wasted." She said. "It's true." I added. "You don't wanna be out there all alone." He said as she got up to leave. She continued walking and he sped in front of her.

"You're about to get really freaky." He told her. "Ok I had a really good time. I just wanna go home." "You're gonna start craving blood, and until you get it, you're gonna feel very out of it so just be careful." He warned. "Come on, move."She pushed past him. "See? You're already starting to fall apart." He said. "And I'm going home now." "Okay, fine. I'm just warning you. Actually you know what. You should go. In fact, if i were you , I would stop by your boyfriend's Jeremy's house." My eyes widened. "Yeah, whatever." She said walking away. "Tell Elena I said hi. And if you see Stefan, tell him to call me." She walked out of the house.

"Asshole. Why'd you send her to my house?" He ignored me. "Fine then. I'm going home to check on Jeremy and Elena." I said grabbing my stuff. As I started to walk away he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Damon." I said. "Please just stay with me for the rest of the day. I'll return you home by night." He said. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine." He smirked. "But I'm tired so I'm taking a nap." I said walking downstairs.

He sped in front of me. "No need. You can sleep in my room." He said. I looked at him. "It's fine. I don't want to invade your room." I said. He just can't take no for an answer. He picked me up sped me to his room and threw me on the bed. It was very soft and silky so I sighed and snuggled into the sheets. He laid down next to me and stroked my hair. "Don't try anything." I mumbled and closed my eyes. I could just tell he was smirking. I snuggled into his chest and fell asleep.

I felt someone shaking me gently. I opened my eyes to meet blue orbs staring at me. "What, Damon?" I grumbled. "Someone's grumpy. It's nightfall. I'm taking you home." He said. "Really?" I asked. "Really." he answered. "Alright." I got up and started walking down the stairs. I turned around to see if Damon was following but there was no one there.

I made it to the door when Damon appeared right in front of me. I jumped back and nearly fell but Damon caught me in his arms before I did. He pulled me up. I punched his arm. He rubbed it pretending to be hurt. "You have got to stop doing that." I said. "Not a chance." He smirked. "Ready?" He asked. "For what?" I said. He picked me up bridal style again and i knew what was coming. I closed my eyes and felt the wind rushing as he ran.

We made it to the front door of my house and he put me down. He knocked on the door and Elena answered. She tried to close the door but of course Damon was stronger. Jeremy was standing behind her. "Jeremy go upstairs." She told him and he complied. "You're afraid of me. i'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan finally fessed up." He said. "Stay away from me. And my sister." She pulled me into the house. "Hey hey hey. There's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. May I come in? Oh, wait of course I can. I've been invited."

He stepped into the house and Elena backed away, pulling me with her. I tried to get out of her grip but she held on tightly. "We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not gonna kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda. So...where's Stefan?" He asked. "He's out looking for Vicki." She said, coldly. "Don't look at me with those judgey little eyes. Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her." He stepped closer so Elena made us step back hitting the staircase. "Did you thank Katherine?" She countered. "Elena! That's not nice." I scolded."Mmm. Got the whole life story huh?" Damon said walking towards the couch.

"I got enough." She said finally letting go of me. "Oh, I doubt that. Tell my brother I'm looking for him." He said walking towards the door. "See you soon Ava." He said to me. I smiled in return. "Oh tip for later, be careful who you invite in the house." He said shutting the door behind him. Elena turned to me rushing me into a hug. She pulled away. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She asked, scanning my body for bruises. "No, he behaved." I said. "he's not as bad as you think, Lena." I said walking up the stairs. "He's a monster." She stated. "I don't think that." I walked away and into my bedroom.


	7. Haunted

The Gilbert Twins Ch.7

Avalon's POV

I woke up this morning worried about Vicki. Damon, who somehow magically obtained my phone number, had called me the other night to inform me Vicki was at the boarding house. This morning I called him again to check up on her. He complained about how Stefan had her trying the bunny diet so I hung up. Elena wanted to head over there so we got in the car and drove to the boarding house.

Damon answered the door which of course didn't please Elena. "Is Stefan here?" She asked. "Yep." He replied. "Where is he?" She asked. "And good morning to you, little miss "I'm on a mission." I laughed at his words which earned me a glare from Elena. "How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything you've done?" This time I glared at her for being so rude. "And how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire arrogant and glib." I bit my lip to prevent myself form laughing.

"If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead." She said. "Yes you would." He said. "But I'm not." She said. "Yet." he added. "Where is Stefan?" She repeated. "He's upstairs singing "The rain in Spain. Knock yourself out." He said walking out the door. Elena went inside. I followed her inside but a hand pulled me back. I looked to see Damon holding on to me and guiding me out the door. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well I'm bored and I'd like some company." He said. "Okay what do you wanna do?" I asked. "Well, it is Halloween tonight and there is a dance so I decided to help you pick a costume." He smirked. "Thanks but I don't dress up." I told him. "Well tonight you are." He said dragging me.

We made it to a little Halloween store and he was dragging me around looking for the perfect costume. I just sat there letting him choose the costumes which was a big mistake. He came back with the sluttiest most revealing costumes ever. "I am not wearing any of those." I stated. "Come on, live a little." "I will just not in those clothes." He pouted and whined but I stood my ground. "If you're bored then we can do something better than this." I said.

This time I dragged him to a candy store. I ordered two candy apples and paid for them. I gave him one and we walked out of there. "Let's take a walk." I said. He nodded. We strolled around the park and talked mostly about everything going on. We sat down on a park bench. I had a question nagging at my brain but I didn't want to ask him. I rub my head frustrated. He noticed and asked what's wrong. "Nothing." I lied. "Out with it." He said. I sighed.

"Can you tell me about Katherine?" I whispered softly. Him being a vampire with super hearing heard this and his eyes immediately hardened. "It's okay if you don't want to." I added. "No, it's alright." He proceeded to tell me about how they met, how he was turned by her, and how she got stuck in a tomb. In the end, I held his hand. "I'm sorry about everything." I said sincerely. He merely nodded and I couldn't help wanting to make him happy again. "So what's your plan?" I asked.

"What?" He said. "Well you obviously intend to bring her back, am I right?" He nodded. "Well, I have decided to do whatever I can to help you get her back." I said cheery. "Why?" He asked, genuinely curious as to why I would help him. "Because, Damon, even though you've done bad things you deserve to be happy. And I want to help you be happy even if it means my only friend will be leaving with the person he loves while I'm stuck in this little town for the rest of my life." I ended sighing. "Well you could always leave if you wanted to."He said.

"Sadly no I can't." I said. "But enough of that I have to get home soon to make sure Elena goes to the Halloween party because we cannot spend our whole life holed up in this tiny little house filled with depressing memories and-" I rambled but was cut off by Damon grabbing me and speeding us to my house. "Have fun." He said before speeding off. "Jerk." I grumbled before heading inside.

I found Elena in the kitchen and Jeremy heading up to his room. "Hey Jer." He just waved me off. I went over to Elena. "What was that about?" I asked. "We had a fight but I convinced him to go the party so get ready." She said. "Oh and here I thought I would have to convince you to go." She chuckled. "Yeah well we all need a distraction." She said heading upstairs. I wasn't going to wear any costume so I sat on the couch waiting for them.

We arrived to the Halloween party with Elena dressed as a nurse and Jeremy going as himself like me. We met up with Matt who was dressed as a doctor matching Elena. "You went with last years costume too huh?" He said walking over to us. "Yeah I didn't know I was coming until about an hour ago." She said. "Me neither." He said staring at Elena for a bit.

He turned to us. "And you guys are going as...yourselves?" He said sarcastically. Jeremy didn't take the joke and walked away."Ignore him. He got into a fight with Elena." I explained. "Yeah, I got into it with Vic, too, when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her tonight, but part of me didn't want to let her out of my sight." He said. Elena and I looked at each other. "She's here?" I asked. "Yeah, you can't miss her, she's a vampire." He said. Yeah, no kidding. How ironic. "Where did Jeremy go?" Elena said looking around.

"Elena what's the matter?"He asked. "We've got to find him." She said. I followed her as we walked away searching for Jeremy. We finally found Stefan coming to us with Vicki. "Thank God." Elena said. "What's the matter?" Stefan said. "I lost track of Jeremy. I was worried." She said. Matt came over and asked "What's going on?"

"Hey uhm, everything's fine." Stefan answered. Vicki took this as an opportunity. "I told you to quit bothering me." Vicki said breaking away from Stefan's hold. "No, Vicki. Don't do this." I said. "Matt, he won't leave me alone." Vicki said. "You need to back off man."Matt, it's- it's okay." Elena said. "No, it's not okay. What the hell is your problem?" He said getting up in Stefan's face. I heard a rush blur away and turned to see Vicki gone. "Guys, she's gone." I said running to find her. I saw Elena right behind me.

We checked outside and found Vicki about to bite Jeremy. "Vicki, No!" I yelled. She threw Jeremy to the fall and lunged at me. I dodged but she pushed me sending me flying to the wall. My head started spinning and I rubbed the back of my neck. "Ava!" I heard Elena yell. I opened my eyes to see Vicki about to lunge for Elena but Stefan stopped her. She disappeared under the bus somewhere. "Go. Get inside. Go!" He said to them. Elena came to me and pulled me up. She grabbed Jeremy and dragged us to the door. Vicki came back and grabbed Jeremy, tossing him to the side.

She grabbed me throwing me to the floor again which did not help my head. Vicki went for Elena and bit her neck causing her to scream in pain. Of course then I felt the same pain and started screaming out in agony. I felt my neck starting to bleed. Suddenly, Vicki was impaled with a wooden plank. She dropped to the floor desiccating. "Vicki! Vicki, Vicki!" Jeremy screamed going to her but Stefan held him back.

I crawled over to her lifeless body sobbing, holding my neck to stop it form bleeding. Once the tears cam I just couldn't stop. "Get him out of here." I heard Elena say to Stefan who took Jeremy back home.

Damon's POV

I picked up my phone to hear Stefan on the other end. "What?" I said. "I need your help." He explained what happened and I rushed over there.

Elena was tearing up and staring at Vicki's body. I looked over to see Ava crying immensely by Elena's side. I could hear her heart beat picking up and speeding too fast for it to be good for her. I sincerely was concerned for her and had to look away because I couldn't look at her being so sad."You should go. I got this." I said to Elena. "You did this. This is your fault." She said bitterly, standing up. I saw Ava put her hand on her sister telling her to stop but she didn't listen. "You confuse me for someone with remorse." I said blankly.

She tried to push me which of course didn't work. I could hear Ava's breathing picking up. Elena then reached to slap me but I caught her hand. The wind started to pick up and swirl. I looked to see Ava breathing heavily still sobbing but looking like she was going to hyperventilate. Elena struggled against my grip. "None of this matters to me, none of it." I said to her. "People die around could it not matter." A tire popped from one of the buses. "It matters, and you know it." She said, slapping me hard.

The wind swirled like a storm and the tires from the buses kept popping. One of the lightbulbs from the street lamp burst. "Stop!" Ava yelled before she sank back to the ground, holding her head. "You need to leave. Your wounds are bleeding, and your sisters on the verge of a panic attack, and you need to leave." I said sternly. She walked away leaving her sister with me.

I walked over to Ava who I think was already having a panic attack. She was sobbing hard. She was also breathing heavily and I could hear her heartbeat racing. I wrapped my arms around her. "Ava, Ava you need to calm down." "Damon, so much pain and death." She whispered. "Too much pain and death." She continued rambling on and on. Lightbulbs continued bursting and the wind was creating like a tornado. "Ava, you need to stop. Just calm down and breathe."

I put my hand on her chin and turned her to face me. She looked into my eyes. "Breathe. Just breathe." I wasn't compelling her yet she relaxed. Her breathing steadied and her heartbeat was normal. "Did I do all of that stuff?" She whispered to me. "Maybe, I don't know although it's nice to know you would do all that stuff to defend me." I joked and she smiled. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. "Thank you." She whispered softly. I looked down to see her eyes closing.

I could hear her heartbeat slowing down a bit. "Woa woa, Ava stay with me now okay?" I'm guessing she got a concussion or something so I bit my wrist and put it in her mouth. "Drink, Ava." She complied and pulled away after she got enough. "Stay here. I'm going to take care of the body and I'll be right back." She nodded and let me go.

After burying Vicki's body, I went back for Ava who was frozen in the same position. I pulled her up and started walking towards the Gilbert house. "Thank you, Damon." She mumbled. "No problem. Feeling better?" I asked. "Yeah. Let's just hope I don't die within 24 hours." She said. "God forbid an empath becoming a vampire. You'd basically be in pain every time you're hungry. That just ruins the fun." I said. She chuckled. Even after everything, I could still make her smile and laugh. God, she is one special gal.

As we walked up the Gilbert house, I heard every sentence of Elena's and Stefan's conversation. "I can do it. If this is what you want, I'll do it." I said walking towards them. "Do what?" Ava asked. "It's what I want." Elena said. "What's going on?" Ava asked. "She wants me to compel Jeremy to forget everything that happened tonight." I explained to her.

"What? No, Lena you can't take away that right from him." She argued. "He's a mess, Ava. This has to be done." Elena answered. "He'll never forgive us for this." Ava said. "It has to be done." Elena turned to me. "Do it." I looked over to Ava who looked sad. I caught her eyes and she nodded in approval. I went over to her and rubbed her shoulders for support. "What do you want him to know?" I asked Elena.

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town and she's not coming back, that he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's gonna miss her but he knows it's for the best. She said. I nodded and headed to Jeremy's room. I went outside to let Elena know it's done.

Avalon's POV

I showered and changed out of my bloody clothes. Tonight was just a mess. Why did everyone have to die around me? I closed my eyes and let the tears fall. I crawled into bed and cried. I felt the other side of the bed slump down and someone stroking my hair. I tilted my head to see Damon there. "Damon? What ar-" I was cut off. "Shh just go to sleep." I nodded sleepily and snuggled into his chest. He continued stroking my hair and I eventually drifted off to sleep.


	8. 162 Candles

The Gilbert Twins Ch.8

Avalon's POV

I woke up and saw that Damon had already left. I really needed to talk to him about this empath stuff and what happened the other day with V-Vicki. I suddenly felt a sense of dreadfulness but I shook it off. Today has to be a better day.

I called Damon first but he said he was busy today so I decided to just have the day to myself. I got in my car and drove to a clothing store. I went inside and shopped till I dropped which was like 30 minutes. I barely even bought anything. The sales lady was pretty upset with me so I got out of there before she could kick me out.

I decided to just head to the park and draw. I got a nice park bench and just started to draw what I was thinking about.

Elena's POV

"Hey!" I said to Bonnie. She came in and ripped open one of the pillows. "Be patient." She said. "Ok." "I need you to swear to secrecy." I sighed. "It's kind of been a bad week for that stuff."

"Swear, cause I'm not supposed to be showing you this." She said seriously. "Ok, I swear." I said. "There's no windows open right?" "Right." I said. "There's no fan, no air conditioning." "None what are you doing?" I asked.

"Grams just showed me this. You're gonna love this. Ready?" She said. "Bonnie what's going on?" I asked. She grabbed one of the feathers and levitated it. I was amazed and shocked.

She levitated several and lifted them into the air around me. "It's true Elena. Everything my Grams told me. It's impossible and its true. I'm a witch." She said. "I believe you." I said still shocked and amazed.

"It's weird huh? After all this time joking about being a psychic. I really am a witch. You don't think I'm a freak now do you?" Bonnie asked. "No, of course not. Bonnie, I just don't understand though. If your Grams told you to keep all this secret, why'd you tell me?" I wondered. "You're my best friend. I can't keep secrets from you." I immediately felt guilty.

Avalon's POV

After sketching for a little over an hour, I finally finished my piece. It was Damon and I looking at the lake, like the day where I took him to bond. I sighed and headed back home. I found Elena who looked like she was heading out. "Where are you going?" I asked her. "Boarding house. Need to talk to Stefan. Wanna come?" She said. I did need to talk to Damon but he said he was busy. Maybe he'll be there. "Sure let's go."

We drove over to the boarding house and I rang the bell. "It's open. Come on in." We heard a female voice say. We exchanged confused glances before entering the house. A blonde girl came up to us in a towel...only a towel. She looked shocked and surprised to see us standing there. "Oh my God! How..How...Who?" "I'm Elena." She said. "And I'm Avalon." I added. "Who are you?" Elena finished.

"Lexi. A friend of Stefan's." She replied. "Is he here?" Elena asked. "He's in the shower. Do you want to wait?" I could see the disappointment and hurt in Elena's eyes. "That's okay." I answered for her. "I'll tell him you stopped by." Lexi said. "It's fine." Elena said walking away. I went after her but turned back around. "Is Damon here?" I asked. "No he left a while ago." "Oh okay thanks." I walked out and followed Elena into the car.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. "There's nothing to say. The towel says it all." She said. "It might not be the way you think." I reasoned. "Whatever let's just go home." Elena said. I nodded and we drove back home.

When I got to my room, I saw that I missed a call from Damon so I called him back. It rang and rang till he finally picked up. "Hey, why'd you call me earlier?" I asked him. "Just letting you know that Caroline's throwing a party at the Grill and you should come." "Caroline's throwing a party or you are?" I asked.

"Well I may have suggested it to her." He said. "Right, 'suggested'." I said. "Well it is Stefan's B-day." "What? I got to get him a present! My god. I need to go now." I said rushing to put on my jacket. "Wait hang on, you want to get him a present?" He asked. "It's polite to give someone a gift for their birthday Damon." I said. "Yeah, yeah whatever." "What are you planning?" I asked him, knowing there was different reason behind this party. "You'll just have to come and see." He said hanging up.

That's not rude or anything. I got in the car as quickly as I could and headed towards Town Square. I mainly window shopped trying to find something that would suit Stefan. I finally came across this nice antique watch. I smiled because it was perfect. I quickly rushed in and paid for it and then headed to the Grill.

I found Damon at the bar so I sat next to him. "Hey." I said. "Hello." "So what are you doing?" I asked eagerly. "Well you'll just have to be patient and wait." I groaned. "That's no fun." I whined. He patted my head. "Too bad." He spotted Lexi coming in and headed towards her. "Be right back." He said to me.

Lexi cam up next to me. "So why are you hanging out with Damon Salvatore?" She asked. "Because he's not as bad as everyone thinks." She laughed. "Well he's an ass." She said. I laughed with her. "He is but he can also be a nice friend." I said. She ordered two drinks. "Cheers to that." She said. I clunk the glasses but didn't drink. "Sorry I don't drink." I said. "That's alright. More for me." She smiled and took my glass. Lexi downed it in less than a minute. She smiled at me once more before walking off.

Later, I found Stefan with Lexi playing pool. I walked over to him with his gift behind my back. "Hey, birthday boy." I said. He chuckled. "Hi Avalon." He said. "Oh please you're Elena's boyfriend which means we have to be friends so you can call me Ava." He smiled. "Surprise." I said showing the present and giving it to him. He opened it and immediately put it on. "Thanks." He said hugging me. "No problem." I said.

"Well I'll leave you two to your game. Have fun."I walked away to Elena and Damon. "Oh you're right. Poor Stefan persecuted throughout eternity by his depraved brother, does it ever get tiring being so righteous?" I heard Damon say as I stood next to them. "It flares up in the presence of psychopaths." Elena said. I giggled a bit. "Ouch, consider this psychopath's feelings hurt." Damon's voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What did you do to my brother?" Elena asked. I furrowed my brows in confusion. What happened to Jeremy? "I'm gonna need a less vague question." Damon said. "When you did what you did to Jeremy's memory of Vicki, what else did you do to him?" She asked. "You asked me to take away his memory of all the fangs and the bad stuff. You wanted me to take away his suffering." Damon explained as if it was so obvious.

"Yeah but he's acting different. He seems okay with everything, a little too okay.I mean he's studying , not doing drugs, he's not drinking, are you sure you didn't do something else?" She asked. "Elena I took away his suffering." he said. I smiled. This is the Damon you don't get to see very often. The nice, soft side.

After that, I hung out with Elena who kept staring at Stefan from afar. Lexi came up to us with three shot glasses. "Oh! the famous Elena." She said handing Elena a shot of tequila. "Towel girl." Elena said coldly. "I've been called worse." She said. "I didn't know you guys could drink." Elena said as Lexi downed one of the glasses.

"Oh yeah, it helps curb the cravings, but it makes for a lot of lushy vamps." Lexi stated. "I've never seen Stefan drunk. He always seems so-" " Uptight?" I finished for Elena. She nodded. "Yeah, but not with you." She said to Lexi. "Well that's the benefit of knowing someone for 100 years. You can just be yourself." Lexi explained.

"Yeah he can't be himself with me." Elena said sadly. "Well not yet. The first step was him telling you, the rest comes with time. " Lexi said. "You seem so sure." I said. "The love of my life was human. He went through what I imagine you're going through:denial, anger, etcetera. But at the end of the day, love really conquered all." Lexi said. "Are you gonna drink that?" She said gesturing to Elena's shot glass. Elena shook her head. She took it and drank it.

"I'm scared." Elena admitted. I squeezed her hand to support her. "But you're here cause you're crazy about him. I get it okay? What's not to love? Listen, take it from someone who's lived around for a long time. When it's real, you can't walk away." She said going back to Stefan. "Hey Lexi, it was nice meeting you." Elena called. She smiled back before going back to the pool table.

I could tell Elena needed some time to drink so I went to look for Damon. i saw he was at the bar again so I headed over there and joined him. "I think if I see any more alcohol today, I might just be tempted to drink it." I told him. He laughed. "You should. Makes everything much more fun." He said. "You would know." I giggled. He smirked. "Yeah, I would."

Lexi came over with two drinks. "All right, the shots are a bribe. I need you to answer a question. What are you really doing back in Mystic Falls." She asked Damon. "Have you tried the Brittle. It wins awards." He deflected. "Cut the crap." Lexi said. "Okay, I have a a diabolical master plan." He said. "What is it?" She asked. "Well if i told you it wouldn't be so diabolical now would it?" He said. I scoffed. "He hasn't even told me." I whined. He turned to me. "I really need to teach you patience." he said. "Like you have any." I argued. He smirked.

Then, Sheriff Forbes came over and injected Lexi with a tube of vervain. I felt the rush of energy being drained from me and slipped a little. Damon caught me though and held me up. "What are you doing?" He asked Liz. "Thank you for the vervain. Now if you'll excuse me." She said walking away, her deputies dragging Lexi along with her.

"Stay here." Damon said putting me on the chair. I nodded. He went off after Liz. I saw Stefan and Elena slipping out the back door and decided to follow them. Stefan turned and saw me following but continued on. We saw Lexi about to attack Liz but Damon came out of nowhere staking her in the heart.

I gasped as I felt the pain. I was going to let out a scream but Stefan put one arm around my mouth and the other around Elena's. We stayed behind the wall while they put the body into the car. Stefan ran off somewhere and Elena followed after her. The sheriff had left so I came out and ran over to Damon.

"What was that about?" I asked him. "All part of my master diabolical plan." I groaned and punched him in the chest. "Ouch. What was that for?" He asked. "For putting a stake through my heart and then twisting it." I said. "You felt that huh?" "No kidding. It hurt like hell." I said rubbing my chest. "Well sorry but I told you to stay inside." He said. "Who said I would listen?" I said. He smirked. "I should head on home. I expect you'll go home to a very upset Stefan though. Don't die." I told him. "I won't." He said in a sing-song voice, waking away. I went to look for Elena and hoped Stefan would not kill his brother.


	9. History Repeating

The Gilbert Twins Ch.9

Damon's POV

"Rise and shine." I said to Stefan handing him a coffee. "You'll be late for school." I continued. "What? What are you doing?" Stefan asked. "Peace offering. Come on you need it for blood circulation. It does dead flesh good. Alright I'm sorry." I said. "Step aside, please."Stefan said firmly.

"I got the town off our back. It was for the greater good and to prove it, i'm not going to feed on a human for at least a week. I'll adopt the Stefan diet. Only nothing with feathers." I said, taking a sip of coffee. "Cause I realize that killing your closest and oldest friend is beyond evil, and yet somehow worthy of humor." He said. "Are you mimicking me?" I asked.

"Yes Stefan. Now that the secret society of vampire haters is off our back, I can go back to my routine of how can I destroy Stefan's life this week." He mocked. "And I can go back to sulking and Elena longing and forehead brooding. This is fun. I like this." I said. "And I will finally reveal the ulterior motive behind my evil and diabolical return to Mystic Falls." He said. "Yeah, i'm done. That's just like you Damon. Always have to have the last word." I mimicked, walking away.

Avalon's POV

I met up with Elena and Bonnie cause Elena said Bonnie has been going through some freaky stuff. Bonnie told Elena that she was a witch and allowed her to tell me because we were her best friends. I felt instantly guilty and Elena said she felt the same. Anyways, we were off to discuss what has been happening to Bonnie.

"And then ended up at the remains of Old Fells church before I woke up back at the woods. " She explained. "And you always see your ancestor Emily?" I wondered. "Mhm. Do you guys believe in ghosts?" She asked. "Two weeks ago, we would've said no but now..." Elena said. "I think I'm being haunted." She said, I could feel her fear behind her voice. Must be an empath thing. "I don't get it. Why Emily?" I asked.

"Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the civil war days and that this medallion was hers. A witch's talisman." Bonnie explained. "And it all started when you got the necklace?" Elena inquired. "I think she's using it to communicate with me." Bonnie answered. "Ok, what does Grams say about it?" Elena asked. "i can't call her, she's going to tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it, I want it to stop." Bonnie said.

That night Elena said Bonnie would be staying over. Then she explained that Bonnie threw away the crystal after Damon threatened her. After which came the lecture on how Damon's a bad guy and I shouldn't hang out with him because he's a bad influence. Honestly, it just went through one ear and out the other.

Caroline joined us as well as a girls night but it was super awkward since she and Bonnie were arguing. We were in the kitchen and it was silent as hell. Elena kept sending signs to Caroline to tell her to apologize. "I'm sorry. There I said it. If you want the ugly ass necklace, keep it. It's yours." She finally said. "Will you hate me if I tell you I threw it away? Bonnie asked cautiously.

"You threw it away?" Caroline exclaimed. "I know it sounds crazy but the necklace was giving me nightmares and I had to get rid of it." Bonnie explained. "You could have just given it back to me." She said. "Why? So you could give it back to Damon?" Elena pointed out. I groaned, not this again. "Screw Damon. Are we doing manicures or what? Who has their kit?" Caroline said cheery. "Mines in my bag." Bonnie said.

"So Elena. How long do you think this fight with Stefan's gonna last? Is it like a permanent thing?" Caroline asked going through Bonnie's bag for the kit. " I don't know Caroline?" Elena said annoyed. "Heh why are you such a little liar Bonnie?" Caroline said. "What?" Bonnie said. "Caroline!" Elena and I scolded. She turned and showed the crystal in hand from Bonnie's bag.

Our eyes widened. "I'm not lying to you Caroline I swear." Bonnie said. "It's true. i watched her throw it into a field." Elena defended. "Well then explain it." Bonnie looked to me and Elena. "Emily." "Who's Emily?" Caroline asked. "The ghost." I said. "Oh. The ghost has a name now?"Caroline said sarcastically. "Caroline, please." Elena said turning to Bonnie.

"Ok, what is going on? Why am I not a part of this conversation? You guys do this to me all the time." Caroline snapped. "That's not true." I said. "yes it is. I can't talk to you. You don't listen." Bonnie admitted. "That's not true." Caroline denied. "I'm a witch." Bonnie said. "And don't we all know it." Caroline said. God she can be infuriating sometimes.

"See? That's what I'm talking about. I'm trying to tell you something. You don't even hear it." Bonnie said walking away. " I listen. When do I not listen?" Caroline said. 'Uhh all the time?' I thought to myself.

Caroline went to apologize to Bonnie so Elena and i waited. She took that time to lecture me about Damon again. "Ava, he's bad news. He turned Vicki," I shivered at the mention of Vicki. " You saw what he did to Lexi, and he threatened Bonnie. He's a killer and you should stop being around him." She lectured. "Lena, he's my friend. Perhaps my only true friend. I can't abandon him and besides, he's not that bad. Everybody has two sides, a good and bad one. You just have to dig deep to find his good side. But still, he is a killer but he has his reasons." I defended him.

She narrowed her eyes like she was thinking about something. "Ava, you have to promise to stay away from him." She said. "I can't promise that." She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Caroline's voice. "Elena, Ava, you can come in now. We're done." She yelled. "We'll talk about this later." Elena said to me, walking to the living room. "Can't wait." I mumbled, following. We sat down on the couch with them.

"Well there is just way too much drama in this room. So what do you guys wanna do?" Caroline said and then gasped. "I have the perfect idea. Why don't we have a seance." She suggested. "I don't think that's a good idea." Bonnie said. "Come on. Let's summon some spirits. This Emily chick has some serious explaining to do." Caroline said with her hands on her his. There's no way we were getting out of this one.

Stefan's POV

I brought Damon to the football field at the school. "What are we doing here?" He asked as I ran backwards with the football. "Bonding catch." I threw the ball to him and he caught it with one hand. He tossed it back to me walking closer. "Hmm Go on. Give it a try." I said throwing it back to him."Don't forget who taught you how to play this game." he said throwing the ball far.

He vamp sped and caught it but I tackled him to the ground. We coughed and groaned. "Ow that hurt." He said. "Downside of my diet-getting hit actually hurts a little bit." I said. "I'm impressed Stefan. Fun with booze and darts, sentimental with football, and now starry night." He said sitting up. "What do you want Stefan?" Damon asked. I sat up with him. "Wasn't real, Damon. Our love for Katherine." I told him.

"Oh god." He groaned. "She compelled us. We didn't have a choice." I tried to reason with him. "Took me years to sort that out. To truly understand what she did to us." I said. "Oh no Stefan. We are not taking that on tonight." Damon said, getting up, and walking away. "What do you want with Katherine's crystal." I said knowing he could hear me. He stopped walking and turned to me. "How do you know about that?" He asked me.

I got up. "Come on. You knew Elena would tell me." I said. "How did you know it was Katherine's? Emily gave it to her on her last night. I was with her and you weren't." He said. "I was the last one to see her, Damon. Now what do you want with Katherine's crystal." I repeated. "She didn't tell you?" He said. "We had other things on our minds." I was testing him. "I could rip your heart out and not think twice about it." He flashed up to me. "yeah, I've heard that before." I said. " I have a bigger surprise Stefan. I'm gonna bring her back." He revealed.

Avalon's POV

"Bonnie?" Elena said. Bonnie just had a huge freak out in the restroom after our seance. "Everything's fine." She said a bit monotone. She walked out like nothing happened.

" I can't believe I fell for it." Caroline said. "Are you okay?" I asked Bonnie. "I must go." She said, walking down the stairs. "If she's leaving, I'm leaving." Caroline said. "You guys can't leave." Elena said. "Oh, I can. I've had enough freaky fake witch stuff for one night." Caroline complained. "thank you for having me. I'll take it from here." Bonnie said. Seriously what's up with her. "Where are you going?" Elena asked.

"Back to where it all began." Bonnie replied walking away. "Bonnie." Elena said. "Bonnie." She tried again. It hit me. I grabbed Elena's hand. "Oh my God. Emily!" I yelled. Elena's eyes widened in realization. Bonnie or Emily turned around and faced us. "I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed." She said running out of the house." Elena and I ran after her. "Wait!" We called out. The door slammed and we couldn't open it.

"What's happening?" Caroline asked running down the stairs to us. "I don't know. The door, it's no-Aah!" She screamed. Jeremy was on the other side opening the door. "What the hell?" He said. " I'm outta here." Caroline said leaving. "Call Stefan." I told Elena. She nodded and I ran out the door after Bonnie/Emily.

I had a pretty good idea of where she went. Fells church by the old cemetery. I got there as fast as I could. I could hear Damon and Bonnie's voice. "I know. I'm sorry." I heard Bonnie say. "You're about to be a lot more than that." I'm guessing he tried to attack her. "Ahh!" I heard him scream. I felt pain in my stomach and held it. I took my hand away to see blood. Blood, I was bleeding but I didn't care. I ran as fast as i could and found Damon stuck on a tree branch.

"Damon?" i said coming up to him. "Ava? You're bleeding." he stated. "Well cause you are." i told him. I tried to get him down but I wasn't very strong. "Don't help him." Bonnie/Emily told me. I didn't listen and continued to try to pry him off the branch. Suddenly, I was flung back into a tree hitting my head. "No!" I heard Damon yell.

Stefan came and got Damon off the branch. "Ow that hurt. This is why I feed on people." Damon said groaning. Stefan came to my side and helped me up. "Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded, my head still throbbing. "Stefan." Bonnie/Emily said. "Hello Emily." He said. "These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil." Emily said.

"What do you mean evil?" Stefan asked. "Emily, i swear to God I'll make you regret this." Damon threatened. "I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily said. "Them? What part of the story did you leave out Damon?" Stefan asked Damon. "Doesn't matter." "Emily tell me what you did."Stefan said. "To save her, I had to save them." She said. "You saved everyone in the church?" Stefan asked.

"With one comes all."Emily said. "I don't care about that. I just want Katherine." Damon said standing up. " I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth. This isn't about love is it? This is about revenge." Stefan said to Damon. "The two aren't mutually exclusive." Damon said. "Damon you can't do this." Stefan said. "Why not? They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. they deserve what they get." Damon said bitterly. I could feel the anger and pain from him. "27 vampires., Damon. They were vampires. You can't just bring them back." Stefan said, trying to reason with him. "This town deserves this." I winced at his words.

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago." Stefan said. I walked closer to Bonnie or Emily because she was drawing some weird shape on the ground. "There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again. They already know too much and they'll burn you little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me." Damon said the last part to Emily.

"Things are different now." She said. "Don't do this." Damon pleaded. "I can't free them. I won't. Incendia!" She said. Fir rose up in the shape that she was drawing. "No! No! No, please." Damon said. I was frozen in my place. "Bonnie!" Elena yelled running in but Stefan stopped her. Emily threw the necklace up. "No!" Damon screamed. It blew up into pieces.

I looked over to Damon who looked a mixture of things. Sadness to pain but then his face changed to anger. The fire around Bonnie died down. I saw Damon and I knew what he was about to do. I didn't think, I just went for it. I ran and stood in front of Bonnie, pushing her back as Damon lunged for us.

I felt the pain of him biting down on my neck ferociously. I screamed and as soon as he heard my voice he stopped. I felt the tears trailing down my cheek. He held my face for a bit and I think I saw a hint of regret in his eyes. He let go of me and stumbled back. Elena ran over to me, Stefan trailing behind. "Stefan! Her neck is bleeding." Elena screamed.

I fell to the floor. "Here, Ava, drink." He gave me his wrist which he bit and fed it to me. I could feel the wound healing but the blood gave me a headache. A headache combined with my head concussion was not pretty. I felt my eyes dropping and everything just started to spin. "Ava?" Elena said with worry and concern. I couldn't answer. My eyes fluttered open once more before the darkness surrounded me.


	10. The Turning Point

The Gilbert Twins Ch.10

Avalon's POV

I woke up back in Elena's bed. I guess she let me sleep here after last night. I rubbed my head as I tried to remember the events of last night. Bonnie was being possessed and destroyed the crystal. And then Damon... he bit me or at least tried to bite Bonnie but I jumped in front of her. I got up and got dressed.

"Jenna? Elena?" I shouted to the house. Guess no one was home. There was only one thing on my mind. Damon. I needed to talk to Damon. I hopped on my bike since everyone took their cars and headed to the Salvatore boarding house.

I walked up to the door but I heard Stefan and Damon talking so I stopped. I found a window and eavesdropped a bit. "So any idea where you'll go?" I heard Stefan say. "I don't maybe. See some friends." Damon replied. What? He's leaving? "You don't have any friends Damon."Stefan said. How rude. What about me? "You're right Stefan. I only have you so where are we going?" Damon asked. "We are not going anywhere. I'm gonna live my life as far away from you as possible." Stefan said. They're both leaving? Why wasn't I told of this.

"But we're a team. We could travel the world together. We could try out for the amazing race." i cracked a small smile at what Damon said but was ultimately overcome with sadness. I didn't want him to leave. Either of them. I needed Damon more than I thought. He was starting to become like my best friend. "Seriously, where are you going cause we're not staying in this town." Stefan said.

I could feel tears pooling in my eyes but I quickly rubbed them away. I decided to stop listening and go inside. I walked into the living room where Stefan and Damon were still staring at each other. "Hi" I said softly. Damon turned around to see me and smiled a little like in relief. "Stefan can I talk to Damon?" I asked quietly. "Sure. Are you okay?" He asked me. "Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded and left the room. I walked down closer to Damon. "How are you doing?" I asked him.

"I bit you and you fainted, and now you're asking me how I'm doing?" He said. I laughed a little. "Still, how are you doing?" I asked again. "Fine. I'll be leaving town for a bit though." He said. I looked down and could feel the tears threatening to spill. "Right." I said softly. "Are you okay?" He asked. "I'm fine." I said, still looking down.

"Ava." He said. I opened my mouth to speak but was saved by the doorbell. Stefan came back out and went to go answer it. I stared at the floor holding back the tears. "I'm here to see Damon." I heard Sheriff Forbes say. "Uh sure ok." Stefan said. I looked up to Damon who was staring at me not wanting to go. "Go ahead. We'll talk later." I said, rushing out the door. "Hey, Liz." I said exiting.

I rushed into my car and tried so hard not to cry. I drove till I was far enough and let the tears spill. How could he leave me? I didn't realize he meant so much to me until now. If he left, then what would I do? First my mom, then my dad, almost Elena, Vicki, now Damon. Why does everyone keep leaving me? I ran into my room and sobbed until I finally calmed down.

I was exhausted so I got in bed and drifted off to sleep. "Ava, wake up." Someone was shaking me but I'm pretty sure that voice belonged to Damon Salvatore. I opened my eyes to find icy blue ones staring at me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "So what's up?" I said. He sat down by my feet. "Well I need a favor." He said.

I arrived to a really creepy abandoned building and called Damon. "I'm there. What now?" "Just wait. I'll be there in a minute." He said, hanging up. I sighed and a flash of wind blew past me as Damon stood in front of me. I handed him the compass. "Why'd you need me?" I asked. "Because I interfere with the signal." He said looking around. "You can go now." he said. "No." I said. He turned to me. "Ava, this could be dangerous." He said. "Well I have been going through a lot of those situations lately." I told him. He looked at me before sighing. "Fine but stay out here." Damon said. I smiled and sat down on a rock. He walked inside.

Shortly after he walked inside, I heard gunshots and felt pain all over my body. Damon. I ran inside without thinking and saw Damon on the floor with bullets lodged in his body. I crouched down beside him. "Looky here. You brought a snack." A voice said. I didn't even hear the gun before the bullets came. I screamed. "No!" Damon yelled. I fell beside him. And closed my eyes.

I woke up a little bit later and saw Logan there. Damon saw that I was awake. "I can't stop killing people. I keep killing. And I like it. I'm conflicted." Logan rambled on, like a madman. "Welcome to the club." Damon said sarcastically. I groaned as I tried to sit up but the bullets in my stomach were not complying. Damon noticed and gestured for me to stay down. I did as he asked and he started pulling the bullets out of my body. "Wait a minute. Cops only found one body." Damon said. "I left one. I was tired. But I've been hiding the rest of the bodies. They're right back there."

Logan gestured behind him. I lifted my head up to see a bunch of bodies stacked on top of each other. I felt like I was going to throw up. "They're just piling up." He said.

He sat down and kept going on and on. "Why am I so overly emotional? All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend. I wanna be with her and bite her and stuff." Logan said. "Please tell me you're not talking about my Aunt Jenna." I groaned. "Well you probably love her. Anything you felt before was magnified now. You're gonna have to learn to control that." Damon said, pulling the last bullet out from me. I sighed.

The bullets were gone but I was still bleeding. "What about walking in the sun? I'm a morning person. You can walk in the sun, which by the way, is pretty cool." I saw Damon fiddle with his ring while he said that. "Council'd never suspect you. That's not in the journals." Logan said. "The journals?" Damon asked. "Yeah, the founding fathers, they passed down journals to their kids. Come on man. You gotta tell me. How can you walk around in the sun?" Logan asked.

"Who turned you?" Damon asked. "How do you walk in the sun?"Logan repeated. "Who turned you?" Damon said again. Logan was getting impatient. "You know I've been really nice so far, but I will kill you and your little friend." Damon held my arm tightly. "Then you'll never know." Damon said, getting up and pulling me up with him. I stumbled a bit but he held me up.

"You're not answering my question." Damon continued. "You first." Logan said. "Seems we are at a bit of an impasse then, doesn't it?" Damon said. "I have things to do, people to kill. Guess I'll be needing a little head start." Logan raised his gun and shot at Damon many times and then shot at me many times. We fell to the floor as Logan flashed away.

I groaned. "Damon?" I asked quietly. "yeah?" He said. "I forgive you for biting me. If that matters to you." I mumbled the last part but he heard it. "It does matter, Ava. Thank you." He groaned as he pulled out the bullets one by one from himself. He got the last one out and then did the same to me. I whimpered because of the pain but Damon was going very gently.

He got the last one out and stood to stand but stumbled down. I crawled to him and extended out my wrist. "Drink Damon, you need your energy." I told him. He shook his head. "You've lost enough blood." I sighed. "Damon, you're the only one who can get us both out of here so drink, please." He gave up and took my wrist.

It actually didn't hurt as he drank from me. I just felt the energy being drained from me but I could feel Damon getting stronger. He pulled away. I lied down and he came beside me. Damon bit into his wrist and put it in my mouth. I tried to push it away at first but he was too strong. "Drink. You need it. let me help you." He said.

I finally drank and I could feel the metallic taste travel through my body. I felt a bit better. Damon carried me bridal style and sped back to the boarding house. Damon called Stefan as he took off his blood soaked shirt. "Logan fell is a vampire and when i find him, I am going to destroy him limb by limb." He said vengefully.

"No, I'm not okay. I was ambushed. I was shot. Now I'm vengeful just gotta find him." He replied to Stefan. "You're kidding me. Why is he there?" He said. "Well, I'll be right there." Damon said hanging up. "He turned to me. "You gonna change?" I looked down to see my clothes soaked in blood. I wanted to change but I didn't have any clothes. "Uhm, i don't have any extra clothes." I told him.

He walked over to his dresser and handed me a t-shirt and boxers to wear. I looked at him. "What? They're clothes. Just wear them for the night." He said. I sighed. I was about to change but I noticed he was still in the room. "Privacy please?" I asked. He smirked. "What? Can't change in front of me?" he said. "Shut up." I told him. "Stay here." He said before flashing away.

I changed into the clothes he gave me and explored his room. I could definitely tell it was his. It has a Damon-y vibe. I jumped on his bed, which was soft as silk. I bet it was silk. I snuggled into the sheets and closed my eyes.

Later on, I heard footsteps storming so I got up and checked it out. I grabbed my clothes and walked out of the room to find Elena seeming distraught. "Elena, what's wrong?" I asked. "Nothing, can we just get out of here." She said. "yeah, sure let's go." I nodded. She rushed into the car and as soon as we got on the road she started crying.

"Lena what's wrong?" I asked, rubbing her back. "We look like her, Ava." I was confused. "Like who?" She shook her head. I looked in front and saw a man on the road. "Lena, watch out!" I screamed. She swerved and the car flipped over. The last thing I heard was Elena screaming before the darkness surrounded me.


	11. Bloodlines

The Gilbert Twins Ch.11

Elena's POV

I was hanging upside down. I looked over to see Ava unconscious. "Ava?" I whimpered. I looked to see the man walking closer and closer to us. I started screaming and screaming as he got closer. Suddenly, he flashed away but then someone else flashed right next to me. I screamed but then saw that it was Damon. "How ya doing in there?" He said. "Damon?" I cried. "You look stuck."

"It's my seat belt. I-I can't." I stuttered. "Let me get you out of here." He said. "Wait, wait. Ava. Get Ava out first." I told him. "What?" He said before flashing over to Ava's side. He carried her out of the car and laid her gently on the floor, then came back to me. "I want you to put your hands on the roof. Just like that." I did as he said. "You ready?1,2,3." He unlatched my seat belt and caught me. He carried me out of the car.

You okay? Can you stand? Anything broken?" He asked. "Uh-uh." I said shaking my head. He put me down on the ground but I stumbled. He caught me. "Whoa, you're fading fast, Elena. Elena, look at me. focus. Look at me." He said. "We look like her." I cried before fainting in his arms.

I woke up with my head leaning on a window in a car. I saw fields flashing by as the car drove. I looked over to see Damon driving. "Morning." He said. I rubbed my head, remembering the events of last night. I shot up. "Ava? Where's Ava?" I demanded. He gestured his head to the backseat where Ava was. "Sleeping." he said. She suddenly groaned and twitched. "Or was." He said rolling his eyes.

Avalon's POV

I opened my eyes and found myself in the backseat of Damon's car. "Or was." I heard Damon say. I saw Elena staring at me in the front seat with relief. "Morning." I said. "Where are we?" Elena asked. "Georgia." My eyes widened. I looked out the window. "Georgia? No, no, no We're not. Seriously, Damon where are we?" Elena asked disbelieving. "Seriously, we're- We're in Georgia. How ya guys feeling?" he asked. "there's no broken bones. I checked. "I scoffed. "You would." I said. He just smirked in response.

"My car. There was a man. I hit a man. But then he got up and-who was that?"Elena asked. "That's what I would like to know." Damon said. "Where is my phone?" She said looking for her phone. "Ava, do you have your phone?" She asked me. I checked my pockets and found nothing. I shook my head.

"Ok. We really need to go back. Nobody knows where I am. Pull over." Elena said, freaking out. "I mean it Damon. Pull over! Stop the car!" She said. I groaned. Here we go. "Oh, you were so much more fun when you were asleep." He said pulling the car over.

They both got out of the car. I groaned and crawled to the front seat to get out of the car. I got up which was a big mistake as I started to feel dizzy. I held the door for support and Damon flashed to my side in a second. He held me. "hey." I think i saw worry in his eyes. "I'm fine." i assured him, standing up again. Mistake. I stumbled and almost fell but Damon caught me and held me in his arms.

"You're not fine." he said, putting me down in the front seat. I leaned my head on the seat as Elena paced around. "We have to go back." She said. "Oh come on. Look, we've already come this far." Damon said. "Why are you doing this? I can't be in Georgia. I wrecked my car. I have to go home. This is kidnapping." She said. "That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?" He said leaning beside me.

"You're not funny. You can't do this. I'm not going to Georgia." Elena said. "You're in Georgia. Without your little necklace I might add. I could very easily make you...agreeable." He said. I looked down at my wrist which was empty. I wasn't wearing my vervain bracelet either. I must have forgot to put it on.

"What are you trying to prove?" Elena asked. A cellphone started ringing from Damon's pocket. "That's my phone." Elena said. Damon pulled it out. "Mmm. It's your boyfriend. I'll take it. Elena's phone." He said. "Elena? She's right her and, yes, she's fine. They both are. He wants to talk to you." He said handing the phone to Elena. She shook her head. "Yeah. I don't think she really wants to talk to you right now. You have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye-now." Damon said hanging up.

"Look. No one knows where we are. Can we please just go back?" Elena pleaded. "We're almost there." he said. "Where is there?" Elena said. "A little place right outside of Atlanta." he said. I spoke up. "Come on Elena. You don't want to go back right now do you?" I said. "Why do you wanna go?" She asked me. "Because in this past week, I've had more injuries than I've ever had in my entire life! We need a break." i told her. "What she said. What's the rush. Time-out. Trust me. Your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Step away from your life for 5 minutes. 5 minutes." He said.

"Are we going to be safe with you?" She asked. "yes." He answered. "Will you promise not to do that mind control thing with us?" I added. "Yes." He replied. "Can we trust you?"Elena finished. "Get in the car. Come on." He deflected the question. I groaned, jumping back to the back seat.

We pulled up to a place called "Bree's Bar." "A bar? You bought us to a bar?"I asked. "Damon, we're not old enough. They're not going to let us in." She said gesturing to me and her. "Sure they will." He said. I sighed and got out of the car. My legs felt wobbly and I stumbled yet again but Damon was right beside me and held me up. He held me as we walked into the bar.

"No. No, it can't be. Damon. My honey pie." The bartender said as she walked over to him. She grabbed him and kissed him. My eyes widened and I looked over to Elena who mirrored my look.

"Listen up everybody! Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness! Drink up!" Bree said as she poured each one of us a shot glass. I felt uncomfortable as everyone started to drink. I looked to my side and saw Damon drinking. I looked to my other side to see Elena who was thankfully not drinking as well.

Damon noticed and drank our glasses. I gave him a grateful look. "So how'd he rope you in?" She said refilling our glasses. "We're not roped in. Actually I'm dating his-" Elena was cut off by Bree. "Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride."She said. "Ok." Elena said. This was very awkward.

"So how did you two meet?" Elena asked. "College." I raised my eyebrows. "You went to college?" I asked him. "I've been on a college campus, yes." he said drinking his shot. I laughed. "About 20 years ago, when I was a sweet young freshman. I met this beautiful man and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret which made me love him more. because, you see I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody." She explained.

"She's a witch." Damon whispered to us. "Changed my world." Bree said."I rocked your world. He is good in the sack isn't he? But mostly he's just a walkaway joe. So what is it that you want? She asked.

I was outside with Elena whose phone started ringing. "I'm here." She said. "You lied." She said, hurt. I'm assuming it was Stefan. "So you didn't lie?" Elena said. "How am we connected to Katherine, Stefan?" I put my hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "And I'm supposed to believe that?" She said. She shook her head and hung up.

I wrapped her in a hug before she turned to face Damon. "Are you okay?" He said. "Don't pretend to care, I know you're gloating inside." Elena said before walking off back to the bar. I sighed.

"Is your sister always like that?"He asked me. "Some days. Other days she can be a even worse." I said with a smile. He chuckled a bit before we walked back into the bar. Bree served us some sandwiches with pickles inside. I was extremely allergic to them so I began picking them out.

"So let's say we are descended from Katherine, does that make us part vampire?" Elena asked. "Vampires can't procreate. But we love to try." He said smirking. I focused on the pickles to keep myself from blushing.

Elena gave him a look. "No. Look. If you were related, it would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned." Damon explained. "Did Stefan think that he could use me to replace her?" Elena asked bitterly. I stopped picking the pickles and wondered whether Damon was just being my friend because of my resemblance to Katherine. I frowned at that thought.

"Kinda creepy if you ask me." Damon said. "Come on, what? You don't like pickles?" He said to me, taking the pickles from my plate away. "I'm allergic so unless you want me to break down into anaphylactic shock..." I told him. "Duly noted." He said.

"How can you even eat? If technically you're supposed to be-" She trailed off. "Dead." I said bluntly. Elena gave me a scolding look. "It's not a bad word, Elena. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions normally." He explained. "This nice act. Is any of it real?" Elena asked. I looked up, curious myself.

He was saved from answering when Bree came over with beer. "Thank you." Damon said. "I'll have one too." Elena said. I looked at her, gaping. "What?" I asked her. "Time out, remember? For 5 minutes? Yeah well those five minutes are going to need a beer." She said. Bree came back with the beer and gave it to Elena. I groaned as they clunk bottles in front of me. I really did not want to deal with a drunk Elena.

I sat there watching Elena and Damon down shots. Elena was drunk but I was proud of her for beating Damon. I sighed. "Come on, not even one drink?" Damon asked me. "Nope. Not even one sip." I told him. He shook his head and went back to his drinks. I huffed and put my head on the counter.

A dozen shots later, Elena was playing pool and Damon was god knows where. Elena's phone started ringing so I picked it up. "Hello? Jenna?" Uh-oh. Big trouble. "Uh hold on. It's loud in here." I put on my jacket and walked outside. "Ava, where are you? Where's Elena? Are you guys okay?" She asked. "yeah, no, we're fine. Everything's fine. Hold on I can't hear you." I said.

As I walked outside, I tripped on the railing. Wow, I'm not even drunk. Next thing i knew someone had their hand over my mouth. I tried screaming but it came out muffled. I was knocked out and I woke up on a tank. I saw Damon and Elena walking towards me. "Damon, no!" I cried as the man came out and hit Damon with a baseball bat. Elena rushed over to me and helped me down.

I felt the pain in my legs and wobbled to the floor. As the man repeatedly hit Damon in the legs, I yelled out in pain feeling the same thing happening. Elena was close to tears. "What the hell?!" Damon exclaimed as the man poured gasoline all over him.

"No!" I screamed. the man turned to us, his eyes red and veins underneath them.I stood up but wobbled a bit. Elena put her arm around me and held me up. "Who are you?" Damon asked. "That's perfect. You have no idea." The man said.

"What are you talking about? What did he do?" Elena asked. "He killed my girlfriend. What did she do to do huh? What did she do to you?!" The man yelled, still pouring gasoline on Damon. "Nothing." Damon choked out as he coughed from the gasoline. "I don't understand." I said. "My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and Damon killed her got it?" he said coldly.

My eyes widened in realization. I looked at Elena who I guess came to the same conclusion. "Lexi? Lexi was your girlfriend? She told me about you. She said that you were human." "I was." He said sadly. He turned back to Damon with a match in his hand. "Lexi turned you?" I asked. "If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever." He kicked Damon in the face and I held mine.

"She loved you. She said "When, it's real, you can't walk away." I said. "Well that's a choice you're not going to have to make." He said. "Don't. Don't, please, don't hurt him." I pleaded. He lit the match. "I'm doing you a favor.""Lexi loved you. And she was good. And that means you're good too. Don't do this. I'm begging you! Please." Tears swelled up in my eyes.

He turned back to Damon and grabbed him by the shirt. He flung him to the wall. I felt the pain searing through my body but I didn't care. I was so relieved. "Thank you." I breathed out. "It wasn't for you." He said before flashing away. I looked over to Damon who was still lying on the ground. I broke away from Elena's grasp and ran to him.

"Damon? Damon?" I gently shook him and he groaned. I sighed in relief and let the tears fall from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away when Elena came over.

After Damon had fed on one of the people in the bar, he returned to his normal self. He told us to wait in the car. A few moments after I gasped. There was a pain in my chest and I couldn't breathe. "Ava? Ava? Are you okay?" Elena asked me. I shook my head and opened the car door. I fell out into the pavement gasping deeply for breaths. Elena crouched down beside me.

Damon came to my side in a second. He rubbed my back. "Hey. Are you okay?" He asked, worried. "yea, it's just did you have to rip her heart out?" I asked. He shrugged. Elena looked confused. "I thought if you weren't near her that it wouldn't affect you." he said. "I wish it worked that way." I said sighing. I stood up a little bit too quickly and immediately wobbled back down. Damon caught me in his arms and lifted me up.

Elena got in the car and then Damon laid me on the front seat. We headed back towards Mystic Falls. "So, why did you bring us with you?" Elena asked. "Well, you're not the worst company in the world, you should give yourself more credit. And i already planned to bring along your sister because she would've bitten my head off if I didn't." He said. "hey!" I punched him playfully and he smirked.

"Seriously?" Elena asked. "I don't know. You were there on the road all damsel and distress-like. And I knew it would piss off Stefan. And.. you're not the worst company in the world Elena." he said. "I used to be more fun." She said. "Thank god that's in the past. Imagine dealing with drunk Elena. oh the horror!" I mocked. They laughed as Elena slapped me playfully. "We saved your life." Elena said. "I know." He said. "And don't you forget it." I told him. "I'm sure you won't let me." he smirked. I smiled.

Damon drove us back to the boarding house because Elena wanted to talk with Stefan. I jumped on the couch and laid there while Damon walked in with a glass of bourbon. He lifted my feet up and sat down putting them on his lap. "Thanks for the little road trip. I told him. " It was nice to get out of town." He smiled. "No problem although I'm pretty sure getting kidnapped by a man wasn't how you wanted it to go."He said.

"The kidnapping was alright." I said honestly. I looked up at the ceiling. "It was the you almost dying that made it a bit of a downer." I mumbled but I know he heard me. I looked back at him to find him staring at me confused. he opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off. "Can you hear what they're saying?" I asked him. He looked away and seemed like he was focusing on something.

"Elena is complaining about Stefan lying, she's wondering if he's trying to replace her and..." He trailed off. "Damon?" He held his hand up saying to wait. After a few minutes, he looked over to me. I saw something in his eyes that looked somewhat like sympathy. "What is it?" I asked him. he seemed hesitant to answer. "Damon tell me. I can handle it. Please." I asked him.

"Okay." I sat up to face him. "From what I heard, the first day of school is not when Elena and Stefan met." He continued to explain how Stefan was the one who saved Elena the day of the car crash. "Okay. What about Katherine. Any thing about that?" I asked. "It turns out you were adopted." he said uncertain of my reaction. My face fell. I sat there in shock. Shock turned to anger, then anger turned to sadness which led to tears. I cried and cried. Damon wrapped me in his arms and stroked my hair.

"I really wish I wasn't the one who had to tell you." He said. "It's okay. It's better that it came from you." i choked out. It was the truth. For some reason Damon made everything feel better. He was always there for me. He makes me laugh and smile which I haven't done in a while genuinely since my parents died. I feel like I could talk to him about everything. Every time he's around, I feel happy and my day just gets better. Wait hold up. Am I falling for Damon Salvatore. No, no, no. I couldn't. could I? Now is not the time, you just found out you were adopted.

I finally calmed down. Elena came back down and I ran over to hug her. She hugged me back tightly. I went over to hug Damon goodbye. Elena and I headed back home. When we walked in, Jenna was there on the couch. "I don't set a lot of rules girls. Not with you two. I trust you guys to tell me the truth." Jenna said walking to us.

"Where were you? Why did you lie to me about it? I thought that we were closer than that." She said. "Now is not the time you want to talk to us about lies." I said bitterly walking up the stairs with Elena right behind me. "Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me. I didn't do anything." She defended. "Ok. Question-Are we adopted?" Elena said. Jenna's face said it all. "We trust you to tell us the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell us? I thought we were closer than that." I said before running up the stairs, Elena followed behind me.

"Ava, i didn't- they asked me not to." She called at us. "We don't wanna hear it." Elena said. That day we stayed in Elena's room, crying our eyes out. She explained to me how there was no record of our mother being pregnant. And how Stefan saved her. We hugged and cried till nightfall. I went back to my own room and climbed into bed.

Today, i almost lost another important person in my life and found out that another was not really who they were. What has my life become? I turned off the lights and drifted off to sleep. I swear i felt someone stroking my hair but was too sleepy to look. It was soothing so I just went with it and fell asleep.


	12. Unpleasantville

The Gilbert Twins Ch.12

Avalon's POV

Tonight, Stefan was over at our house talking with Elena in her room. I made sure to lecture him about not doing any funny business or I would personally stake him in the heart. The doorbell rang so I went to go answer it.

"Hey. It's going to be $22." The pizza delivery guy said. "Elena, I need the money!" I shouted up the stairs. "Uh,here. Come in. Just put it on the table." I said gesturing towards the table by the door. He stepped in as Elena came down the stairs with her wallet. "Hi. Uhm, keep the change." Elena said, handing him the money.

"Thanks and you have a good night." He said walking out the door. I put an arm around Elena's shoulder. "So no funny business going on right?" I said. She chuckled. "Yes, Stefan is taking your warning to heart." She joked. "Good man." I said. We laughed as we brought the pizza to the dining table.

Afterschool the next day, we went to the Grill with Bonnie and talked about the adopted thing. "I can't believe you guys are adopted. I never saw that coming." Bonnie said. "And it gets weirder. We looked at our birth certificate and it lists Miranda and Grayson Gilbert as our birthparents. None of it makes sense." I said.

"Which is why you guys should ask Jenna." We sighed. "First of all, the Gilbert Twins I know would always want the real truth, good or bad." Bonnie said. "And second of all?" Elena asked. "You just found out you boyfriend is a vampire so unless you birthparents are aliens. How bad could it be?" We all laughed.

"Ah, listen I have to go to the store. My outfit is severely lacking accessories." Elena said. "I'll come with. Maybe doing the worst thing in history will take my mind off things." I said. They chuckled. "I'll pay the bill." Bonnie said."K. Bye." We said and then left.

After shopping a bit, we headed back to the car. Elena's phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello?" She said. "Hey, who's this?" She said, confused. Her eyes seemed to widen in fear and she looked around. Her eyes finally landed somewhere by the building. I followed her gaze to see the same hooded man walking towards us. We quickly got in the car and rushed out of there.

"Why us? What does he want with us?" I asked. "And if he's trying to kill us, why call first?" Elena finished. "It's because we're predators Elena. We hunt, we stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill. I want you two to take this." Stefan held out the pocket watch. "This is Jeremy's pocket watch. How did you get it?"Elena asked.

"I took it from Damon, who took it from Logan, who must have taken it from you." He explained. "What happened to it?" Elena asked. I spoke up. "It's not really a watch. It's also a compass. It points to vampires." I said. He nodded in agreement and put the compass in Elena's hand. It whirred around and finally pointed at Stefan in the end.

"Why did my father have it?" Elena asked. "The Gilberts were one of the founding families and back in 1864, they were among those who sought to eradicate vampires. The compass was used to find us." "Did you know them?" I asked. "Yes. I want you to keep this. It will keep you both safe. This way, you'll know if you are ever in danger." He said.

We went back home to get ready for the decades dance tonight. Jenna was already there in her 50's attire. "I called the insurance company today. Cars totaled. You can borrow mine for now." She said. "So you're coming to the dance?" I asked. "Alaric asked me to help chaperone." Jenna said smiling. "Why didn't you tell us Jenna?" Elena said. Her smile faded away.

"Your mom was going to do it eventually, I never thought I'd have to." She said. "If our mom were here now and we asked her, she'd tell us the truth." Elena said. Jenna sighed."Your dad was about to leave the office one night when this girl showed up. She was 16, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered her baby, and he gave her a place to stay, but a few days later, she disappeared. And there you were. Your parents were trying so hard to have a baby. I-it just wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom."Jenna explained.

"Well why were our parents names on our birth certificate?" I asked her. "Your dad was a doctor, he took care of it. They didn't want to lose you girls so they kept it quiet, told as few people as possible. But if anyone ever wanted proof, they had documentation." Jenna said. "What else do you know about the girl?" Elena asked. "Just her name. Isobel."

We were in Elena's room getting ready for the dance. I sat on her bed since I was done. I was wearing a simple plaid shirt that was tied at the bottom and denim shorts. I wore black converse because there was no way in hell I was going to wear heels. My hair was just curled and I wrapped a bandana as a headband around my head.

Elena was doing her hair when we heard some noises. We looked at each other confused and went to go check it out. "Jenna?" Elena shouted. "Jeremy?" I shouted. Nothing. No one was home. I heard something and turned to see the compass moving. I signaled Elena who saw it and then reached for her phone.

I assumed she was calling Stefan so I told her to put it on speaker. "Stefan's phone. How may I help you." Damon's voice came. "Where is he?" Elena said, as we made our way down to the living room. "He's on his way to you. Forgot his phone." He said. I sighed in relief. "Thank god. This compass was spinning. Stefan must be here. Thank you." Elena said. "Your welcome." He said and we hung up.

Suddenly, something grabbed Elena and flung her towards the wall. He then grabbed me and was about to bite into my neck. I screamed out. "Ava!" Stefan's voice came as he flung the figure back. The man flashed out of the house. Elena ran into Stefan's arms. "Are you guys okay?" He asked. I sighed before sitting on the couch.

"How'd he get in?" Damon came not long after. "He was invited in." I said. "He posed as a pizza delivery guy last night." Stefan explained. "Well he gets points for that. Did he say what he wanted?" Damon asked. "No he was too busy trying to kill me and my sister." Elena said. "Elena, calm down." I told her. She relaxed a bit.

"And you have no idea who this is?" Stefan asked, skeptically. "No." Damon answered. Stefan gave him a look. "Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company." He said. "You think there's more than one?" I asked. "We don't know." He answered. Damon sat on the arm of my couch. "Damon he was invited in." He nodded in understanding.

"Then we go get him tonight. You two up for it?"Damon asked. "What do we have to do?" Elena asked. "Let your boyfriend take you to the dance. I'll take Ava and we'll see who shows up." I raised my eyebrows. Damon is going to take me to the dance? "That's a bad idea." Stefan said.

"Till we get him, this house isn't safe. For any one who lives in it." Damon pointed out. Oh god, Jenna and Jeremy. "We'll do it." Elena said. I nodded in agreement. "We'll be with the two of you, we'll be safe." She said to Stefan.

We arrived to the school which was swarming with 50's dressed teens. "Shall we?" Damon said to me extending his arm to me. I smiled at him and took his arm. We walked into the gym with Stefan and Elena, searching the crowd for any signs of the hooded man.

Elena and I were approached by Caroline and Bonnie. "Having fun?" Elena asked. "No, but this-" Caroline gestured towards her hair-"Took about two hours so I'm at least staying half of that." We chuckled. "What's Damon doing here?"Bonnie asked. "He wanted to come. I promise, he'll behave." I said. "So what is this, like a foursome now, the Gilbert twins with the Salvatore brothers?" Caroline said.

"No, but if I'm gonna be with Stefan, then I have to learn to tolerate Damon. It's not like I can kill him." Elena said. "There's a thought."Bonnie said. "Hmm, I'll help." Caroline said. I groaned, why does everyone have to hate him.

Elena went over to Stefan which left me with Caroline and Bonnie. We were talking until Damon came over. "Hi, Bonnie wanna dance?" He said. "I'm out of here." Bonnie said, walking away. "Please give me another chance." "Back off Damon." Caroline said before strutting away after Bonnie.

"Are you sure girls run to you or run away screaming from you?" I asked him. "Both." He smirked. Elena and Stefan came back. "Where did they go?" Elena asked. "I don't know." "What'd you say to them." Stefan asked. "I was perfectly polite." Damon said. They looked to me. "Oh yeah he was just his normal arrogant self." I said, which earned me a glare from Damon and smiles from Elena and Stefan.

"Elena, would you like to dance?" Damon asked. "I would love to." She said. Damon smirked. Elena turned to Stefan. "May I have this dance?" She asked him. Stefan smiled and nodded. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. They headed over to the dance floor. I started walking away from Damon but he pulled me back. "Would you like to dance?" He said. "One, I don't dance. Two, you just asked two other girls to dance in front of me, why should I?" I said.

"Well, i was just messing around and you called me arrogant." He pointed out. "Touche. But I don't like dancing." I told him. "You'll be fine. Come on." He said. I didn't budge. "Please?" He said. "Fine. One dance." I said. He smirked and led me out to the dance floor. He put his arms on my hips so I put mine around his neck and we swayed to the music. "See you're doing fine." He whispered in my ear.

"Be grateful I haven't stepped on your toes yet." I told him. He chuckled and I could feel the vibration in his chest. I felt safe and protected. The song ended and he pulled away. "Want something to drink?" He said. "As long as it isn't spiked with alcohol." I told him. He grinned and went to get us drinks.

I found Mr. Saltzman, my new history teacher, standing alone so I decided to go talk to him. "Where's Jenna?" I asked. "Around. Somewhere." He said. "Did you lose your date?" I said. "Maybe." He replied. We burst out laughing. Damon came over with drinks. He gave me one and put his arm around my waist, almost protectively. I didn't make an effort to remove it though. I could see Alaric staring at it.

"I don't recognize you. How'd you get roped into chaperoning? Alaric Saltzman. I'm the new history teacher." Mr. Saltzman said. "Ah. The cursed faculty position." Damon said. "So i've been told." He replied. "Damon. Salvatore." "Salvatore, as in Stefan? He's my little brother. I'm his legal guardian, hence the chaperoning." Damon told him.

"I hear he's very bright not that I had a chance to see for myself." Alaric said. "Well his attendance record's a little spotty,family drama." Damon explained. "No parents?" Alaric asked. "Mmm, it's just the two of us now." He said. "You uh live here your whole life?" Alaric asked. "On and off. Travel a bit." Damon said. I guess it was the truth.

"Really where? Around the states?" Alaric asked. What's with all the questions? Me and Damon exchanged glances before looking at Alaric. "I'm sorry, I'm nosy. I don't mean to pry. Look it was nice meeting you." "You too." Damon said. "Enjoy the rest of the dance." Alaric said before walking away. "That was weird." I said. "Yup." Damon said, drinking all of his drink. "Yours is spiked isn't it?" I inquired. He smirked. "Of course it is. Now I'm gonna do some dancing." He said.

I watched as he danced with a couple girls. I laughed at his moves. Stefan and Elena came over. "You really can't take him anywhere can you?" Elena said. "uh, no." Stefan said. I chuckled and looked back at the crowd. I spotted a hooded figure. "Stefan." I said. "The back corner." I told them. They looked to see the hooded figure watching us.

"Get Damon." Stefan told us before going after the figure. We searched for Damon when Elena's phone rang. I put my ear next to hers to hear the conversation. "Hello, girls. Here's what you're going to do. There's an exit door behind you. You have 5 seconds." He said. "No." I said. "Or your brother dies." We turned to the punch bowl to see him standing behind Jeremy.

We did as he said and ran through the door. We ran down the hallway but the doors were closed. We turned and saw him coming closer and closer so instead we ran into the cafeteria. All the doors were locked. He came busting in and sped over to us. He grabbed us and threw us back onto the table.

I grabbed some pencils while he pinned me to the wall. Just as he was about to bite me I stabbed him with the pencil. He stumbled back a bit. Elena came up from behind and also stabbed him with a pencil. I put one in his chest and made him fall to the floor. Elena grabbed the broom and cracked the wood in half to make a stake.

She was about to stab him with it when he caught it and threw it to the side. He lunged for her neck but Stefan stepped in and sent him flying across the table. "Hey, dickhead." Damon came in with a stake in hand. "Nobody wants to kill to you. We just want to talk." Damon said.

The man didn't listen. Instead, he lunged for Elena and I but Damon threw Stefan the stake who plunged it in his chest. I shrieked in pain as I fell to the floor. Damon flashed to my side and helped me up. "Now you feel like talking?" Stefan said. "Screw you." He said. "This is going to hurt." He whispered to me. Stefan plunged the stake into the man's chest again and I whimpered. My chest ached. It felt like I was constantly being stabbed which I was in a way.

"Wrong answer." Stefan said. Elena stood here gasping. "Why are you doing this?" Stefan asked again. "Because it's fun." He answered. Damon grabbed my hand and I winced as I knew what was coming. Stefan twisted the stake in his chest. "What do you want with them?" Stefan asked. "They look like Katherine." We all looked to Damon who seemed curious himself. I felt a little knot in my stomach, almost as if I was jealous. I shook it off. "You knew Katherine?"

"Oh you thought you two were the only ones. You don't even remember me." He said. "Tell me how to get into the tomb." Damon said. "No." He answered. Damon looked at me and I knew what he was asking. I nodded and he turned to Stefan who twisted the stake again.

I gripped Damon's hand as the pain was coursing through my body. "The grimoire." He finally answered. "Where is it?" Damon asked. The man didn't answer. I squeezed Damon's hand as Stefan yet again staked the vampire in the chest. "Check the journal. The journal. Jonathan Gilbert's journal." He said.

"Who else is working with you?" Stefan asked. "Who else is there?" Damon repeated. "No, you're going to have to kill me." He said. Damon rolled his eyes and looked to Stefan. Damon covered my eyes and whispered to me:" This is going to hurt a lot okay?" I nodded. I heard the man scream and the sound of Stefan plunging the stake into his heart. I winced and whimpered at the pain. Damon finally uncovered my eyes and I took deep breaths to calm myself.

"What do we-how are we going to find the others now?" Elena said, in shock. "He had to die." Damon said. "But.." "Elena, he's been invited in." Stefan said. We heard the sound of a door nearby. Damon looked to Stefan. "Go I got this." He looked to me. I nodded and he let go of my hand. I ran to Elena who wrapped me in a hug.

Damon offered to drive me back home and I agreed. "You okay? You seem a bit shaken up." He said. "I'm fine, just tired of being in pain all the time when someone gets hurt." I told him. "True, maybe we can fix that. I can look in some of my dad's journals for you." He said. "Thanks." I told him. He smiled.

"So any idea where the grimoire is?" I asked him. "Nope. Not a clue." he said. "I'll try to look for my ancestor's journal." I told him. He looked at me. "Why are you helping me?" He asked. I sighed. "We've talked about this before, Damon. I want you to be happy." i said. "Why don't you hate me?" He asked. "Damon, you have done horrible and horrendous things. But you have also done good things. All humans are flawed. I'm sure vampires are too. I don't blame you for being flawed. You kill people to feed but also for fun. You save people sometimes just because you want to. To me, I think you are just a flawed person who has been through a lot. And you're also my best friend. I want you to be happy even if it means you're going to leave me with your lover." I told him.

He smiled a bit. "But I will bite your head off if you don't send me postcards, preferably with nice landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge or the Eiffel Tower." I told him. He laughed and i smiled. "Got it." We arrived at my house and I said goodbye. I saw Elena and Stefan on the couch talking. When i walked in, they looked at me. "Hey guys, I'm gonna head off to bed" I told them. "Okay." Elena said. I ran up and showered, then changed into my pajamas.

I realized something today. During dancing with Damon, holding hands with him, and the car ride with him. I realized I can't live without him in my life but I really wanted him to be happy. Earlier when the man mentioned Katherine, I felt a slight jealous feeling in my stomach. It hit me. I was in love with Damon Salvatore. And tomorrow, I would be helping him get back his true love.


	13. Children of the Damned

The Gilbert Twins Ch.13

Avalon's POV

I headed over to the Boarding house alone because Elena had stayed the night there with Stefan. I'll make sure he gets a stern scolding about sleepovers. Anyways, today I was helping Damon find Emily's grimoire. I looked for the Gilbert journal but couldn't find it anywhere this morning. I walked inside and Damon was walking up the stairs with a mischievous look in his eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something but he flashed down to me and put a finger to my lips. He grabbed me and flashed us up to Stefan's room where Elena and Stefan were in bed. "Rise and Shine, sleepyheads." Damon said. I crossed my arm. "Damon! please!" Elena said. "What are you doing?" Stefan said. They covered themselves with the covers. "Oh stop being so smutty." Damon said.

"Seriously, get out of here." Stefan said. "If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it. Now listen, we have some very important business to discuss." Damon said. "And it has to be right now." Elena said. "Believe me I rather not have seen this..Ugh." I said.

"Well, we have lots to do, now that we're all friends and working towards a common goal. So in order to open the tomb. We need to find the journal to get the grimoire to undo the spells. First things first, since you are Elena Gilbert, you're on journal duty." Damon said. "What about me?" I asked. "You already tried and you have to help me do something else." He said. I nodded. "Wait, since when am I helping?" Elena said.

"Well, Ava's helping and Stefan's helping, and you've taken a residence in Stefan's bed, ergo." Damon said. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Stefan told her. "Uh, if I have to, she does too." I said. "I'll look for it tonight." Elena sighed. "How do we know that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire? We're really gonna take the word of this vampire? He seemed a bit of a dimwit." Stefan said.

"In lieu of any other options." Damon said. "OK, what exactly is a grimoire, anyway?" Elena asked. "It's a witch's cookbook." Damon said simply. "Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so every witch would document their work." Stefan said. "Yeah. Cookbook." Damon said.

"What about our mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever's out there knows who we are." Stefan said. "And I don't like that disadvantage, so chop, chop. You know, I really like this whole menage a foursome team thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it. Don't screw it up." He said as he walked out the door. I followed Damon out but stopped. "No funny business." I shouted back to Stefan and Elena before heading down the stairs.

I met up with Damon in the living room. "So what are we doing?" I asked him. "Well I heard today's family night for he Gilbert house. I would like to cook you, Elena, and Aunt Jenna dinner." Damon said. "Awe, but I'm the chef of the house." I pouted. He chuckled. "Don't worry, you can be my sous chef." He said. "Can you even cook?" I asked. "Better than you probably." Damon smirked.

"Considering your age, that might be true." I said. "Alright, but family night is at night, obviously so in the mean time?" I said. "Well what do you want to do?" He asked me. I looked at him confused. "Uhm what do you mean?" I said. "Come on. Let's have a bestie day before all this grimoire stuff starts." He said.

"Okay. Uhh, i haven't eaten yet, unless you want to cook me lunch but maybe we should save the cooking for tonight. Let's go to the grill." I said. He nodded. Then a thought popped into my head. "Can I drive your car?" I asked, innocently. "Nope." He said. "Why not?" I whined. "Because we're not using that type of transportation." He smirked. My eyes widened. "No." I said. "And why not." He asked.

"Because...because...I go nothing." I sighed while he smirked. "Alright well at least you gave me a warning before you did it." i said. "Well, I am a gentleman." He said. I scoffed. "More like far from one. Now come on, I'm hungry." i told him. "Alright get on my back." He said. I froze. He laughed. "Woa there, not like that, unless you want it to be." he said.

I shook my head and got on his back. I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes. I felt the wind rushing past us as he sped over to the Grill. "We're here. You can open your eyes now. People are starting to stare."He said. I opened my eyes and got off his back. He opened the door and gestured for me to go in first. "After you." He said, grinning.

"Okay maybe a slight gentleman."I said walking in. I just knew he was smirking behind me. He snaked an arm around my waist and I shuddered at his touch. "What are you doing?" I asked him. "Leading you to the bar." He said. I scoffed at his deflection to my question but went along with it anyway. "But I wanted food not alcohol." I pouted as i took a seat at the bar. "And you will have food but I need a drink." He said.

He ordered me a burger and fries while he got himself bourbon. "So how come you don't drink alcohol?" He said, downing his glass. "To avoid becoming one of those girls who get drunk and do something they regret." I lied. He narrowed his eyes and stared into mine. "You're lying." He said in a sing-song voice. God, he could see right through me.

I sighed. "Well you know after my parents died Elena turned to depression, Jeremy turned to drugs, and I turned to isolation. There was a point where I turned to alcohol. I went to a bar, got drunk, and then got into a bar fight. Apparently I was quite a mouther when I'm drunk." He chuckled. "Anyways, the dude knocked me out and I got a head concussion. The next day i woke up at Mystic Falls hospital and got an earful from Jenna and Elena. So i cleaned up my act and stopped drinking. And I never will drink again."I finished as the food came.

"Well I always turn to bourbon so this friendship might not work out." He said. I laughed. "Don't worry. I think I can live with it. He slid my plate to him and started picking out the pickles. "What are you doing?" i asked. "You're allergic aren't you?" I nodded. "Well, I'm taking them out." he said, like it was so obvious. I smiled at his gesture.

We ate and talked until I finished. "So what are we going to do now?" I asked. "Well it is family night today or have you forgotten already?" He tilted his head gesturing towards the window. I looked to see the sun was already setting. "Oh. I didn't realize how much time has passed. Let's go." He got up and we walked to the door. I held my hand up to stop him. "We are walking to my house okay?" He nodded.

"So what happens on family night?" He asked. "Well I cook, then we eat and then family night is over." "That sounds very boring." He said. "Well it used to be more fun." I frowned thinking about the memories. "What would you do before?" "Well my mom and I would be in the kitchen cooking. That was what we shared. Dad and Elena would be setting up the games with Jeremy. We'd sit down and eat and laugh about stories. Afterwards we would play games for hours and hours just having fun." I looked up at the sunset.

"I looked over to Damon who was looking at me. We stayed like that for a moment, just staring at each others eyes. I broke away the gaze. "Anyways, I was always teamed with the boys. It was me, my dad, and Jeremy. Then there was Elena, my mom, and Jenna. I liked it that way. Family nights were always fun. Those were some of the best memories. But then one family night, everything blew up. My parents never came back." I felt his hand entwine with mine. i smiled at him and we continued walking back to my house.

We walked inside where Jenna was lounging on the couch. "Great! You're here." She paused when she saw Damon standing next to me still holding my hand. I quickly let go and Damon was smirking. I elbowed him in the ribs and he feigned hurt. "Damon would like to join us for family night. He's helping me cook. Is that alright?" Jenna looked hesitant but agreed. But she also had to get a bottle of wine to get through the night.

"Alright, to the kitchen." I lead Damon to the kitchen and we began cooking. He held a spoon up for me to taste his cooking. It was delicious and probably better than my cooking but I would never admit that to him. It would only inflate his ego. "Not bad. I guess you do know how to cook." He smirked in triumph.

"My father never approved of anyone I dated which only made me like them more of course. What about you?" Damon was slicing a tomato while Jenna was drinking her glass of wine, sitting on the counter. They were chatting. "There were a few guys, Logan isn't the only loser I've dated." Jenna answered. "They ever find him? Or is he still missing?" Damon asked. "He's not missing. He's in the Bahamas working on his tan. Very entitled that one. Marches to his own drum. He's a Fell. They're all snooty." Jenna said downing the rest of her glass.

I walked over and poured her some more. "Hello Elena." Damon says out of nowhere. I looked to see Elena entering the room. "Hey, Lena." I said. She seemed shocked that Damon was here. "Hey, Where have you been. We're cooking dinner." Jenna said. I scoffed. "Correction. Me and Damon are cooking while Jenna is drinking." I said. Damon chuckled and Jenna laughed too. "Is Stefan with you?" Damon asked Elena. "Um-he'll be here soon." Elena said. She stood beside Jenna and kept staring at Damon with disgust. Will they ever get along?

I was helping Elena set up the table. I grabbed the plates and headed towards the tabled but Damon bumped into me-on purpose. "Whoa. Mm-mm." He said going over to the stove. I smiled and shook my head. "Don't do that." I handed the plates to Elena who looked annoyed. "Do what?" Damon said pretending to be innocent. "You know what. That move was deliberate." i said.

"Well, yeah I was deliberately trying to get to the sink." Excuses, excuses. Elena scoffed at his behavior. "Speaking of Stefan, where is he? He's missing family night, which I am enjoying immensely." Damon said. Elena ignored him and walked to the kitchen for the silverware. "Is it real?" Damon says. "Is what real?" Elena asked. "This renewed sense of brotherhood. Can I trust him?" Damon asked, serious. He took a spoonful of the sauce he made and let me taste it again. I nodded in approval.

"Yes, you can trust him." Elena said. Damon vamp-sped over to her so that he was standing right in front of her. "Can I trust him?" He said looking into her eyes. I don't know how I new but I was quite certain he wasn't compelling her. "I'm wearing vervain Damon. It's not going to work." Elena said. "I''m not compelling you. I just want you to answer me. Honestly." Ah-hah. I was right. "Of course you can." Elena said. I walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "You can trust Lena. She wouldn't lie to us. Right Lena?" I asked. "Right." She said uncertainly before leaving the room. I was confused but shrugged it off.

Elena came back into the kitchen a few minutes later and Damon continued the talk about Stefan. "There was a time when I trusted him more than anyone." He said. "Trust breeds trust. You have to give it to get it." Elena said. "Are you lecturing me?" Damon asked. "Do you need to be lectured?" Elena put her hand on her hips making her look all stern-like.

"I just want her back. i'm sure you can understand that." Damon said. I felt a little knot forming in my stomach again. "I can understand you would do anything for her, yes." Elena said. "Then you understand what I will do if anyone gets in my way." He warned.

Later on, I was on the couch while Damon and Jeremy were playing some video game. Damon was pretty good at it even though he was like a century older. the doorbell rang and Damon abandoned the game to go answer it. I followed after him. Stefan was on the other side of the door shocked that Damon was here just like Elena was. He looked to Elena who just shrugged. He said he had some important news so we stepped out onto the porch to talk.

So it turns out Alaric had the journal but then someone else got to it before Stefan did. Apparently Jeremy had also shown the journal to this hot and weird chick ,as Jeremy described her, and they were going to meet at the grill later. "Perfect. I'll drive. Come on." Damon said. "O-okay." Jeremy said getting up. "I'm coming too. I gotta meet this girl who's crushing on my little bro." I said. Jeremy scoffed and we got into Damon's car and headed to the grill.

Damon and I were sitting at the bar, looking at Jeremy and the grill from afar. I looked to Damon who seemed to have a look of recognition on his face. "What's up? You know her?" i asked. "You could say that." He said.

He then proceeded to tell me his memory. How he had met her in 1864, and she was Pearl's daughter who was a friend of Katherine's. We followed her back to her apartment and Damon made me wait in the car. A few minutes later, he came back and started the car.

"So what happened?" I asked. "I know where Emily's grimoire is."He said smirking. "Great. Where?" I said. "My father's grave." He said. My face dropped. "What? Oh god. We're going to have to dig and see a rotten corpse? Gross." i said frowning in disgust. he chuckled at my expression. "I'm pretty sure you would've made me dig anyways." he smirked. "You're probably right." We laughed as we headed to the cemetery.

We walked through the woods when and were almost there when Damon stopped. "You've got to be kidding me." He said. "What?" I asked. He shook his head and turned to me. "Do you trust me?" He asked. "Of course." I answered sincerely. He nodded and we continued walking through the trees. "Well, what do you know? This is an interesting turn of events." he said. I stepped out from behind him to see what was going on.

I was shocked to see Elena and Stefan. They were standing by a dug up grave with the grimoire. "Lena?" I said, hurt and disappointed. Her face held regret and shame but I didn't care. I was hurt that she lied to me and Damon. "i can't let you bring her back. I'm sorry." Stefan said. "So am I. For thinking for even a second that I could trust you." Damon said bitterly. I could tell he was hurt too.

"Oh. You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself." Stefan said. "Of course I was going to do it by myself because the only person I can count on right now is Ava and me!" he yelled. "You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan. But you..." he looked to Elena.

"You had me fooled." I was so mad at Elena for betraying Damon and lying to me. "So what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that, I'll rip her heart out." Damon said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at his words. "You won't kill her. Ava would never forgive you." Now i was mad at Stefan. how dare he use me to stop Damon. I looked to see Damon nodding. Within a second he sped to Elena and had her in a choke hold.

I gasped in surprise. "I can do one better." Damon bites into his wrist and forces Elena to drink the blood. Elena struggled but it was no use, she swallowed the blood. "Give me the book, Stefan, or I'm snapping her neck. And you will have a vampire girlfriend to play with." Damon said. I knew he was not kidding. "Let her go first." Stefan argued.

"The book!" Damon demanded. "I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing right next to me." Stefan said. "Problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back!" Damon countered. I broke out of my trance and spoke up.

"Alright. How about this. You give the book and Elena to me and I will give them back to each of you. Okay?" I said. I looked to Stefan who nodded and then I looked to Damon. He seemed uncertain. "You can trust me, Damon." I assured him. He nodded. Stefan gave me the book and Damon let Elena free. She ran into Stefan's arms.

I walked over to Damon and gave him the grimoire. "Thank you." he whispered. I nodded and gave him a small smile. He flashed away leaving me with Stefan and Elena. "Ava please." Elena started. I put my hand up. " I don't wanna hear it Lena. Damon trusted you. I trusted you. Both of you. And you lied and betrayed us." I didn't say anymore and just walked away.

I had to walk back home since Damon ran off. I started walking when I felt a hand go over my mouth. I tried to scream but they knocked me out. I fell to the floor unconscious.


	14. Fool Me Once

The Gilbert Twins Ch.14

Avalon's POV

I woke up to Elena shaking me frantically. "God, Elena chill. What's up?" I said groggily. Elena and Bonnie sighed in relief. I looked to see I was in a bathtub. I then remembered what happened last night. I was kidnapped after getting the grimoire for Damon. "Where are we?" I asked. "I don't know. A motel or something. It was Ben." A motel? It must've been Anna and Ben. "Wait, bartender Ben?" i asked. Bonnie nodded.

Just then Ben came busting in, turning off the water. "You're wasting your time. I'm not going to help you." Bonnie said firmly. I got out of the tub and stood by her. "That's what they're here for." he said. He grabbed me and Elena. We struggled against his grip. I guess Anna turned him into a vampire.

"Motivation for you to behave. You shouldn't be so desperate you know. You made it too easy. She wants to talk to you two." He shoved us out the door. "Well, well. Elena and Avalon Gilbert. You really are Katherine's doppelgangers. You must have the Salvatore brothers reeling.'Anna said. "Who are you?" Elena asked. "Anna." i told her. She looked at me surprised. Anna nodded in confirmation. "Your brother may have mentioned me. I mean we're like practically dating." Anna said.

Elena and I sat down on the bed while Anna went over to the window. "Bonnie's not going to open the tomb." Elena said. "Oh, I think she will." Anna said. "Do you really want Katherine out that bad?" Elena asked. "Trust me. No one I know wants to see that girl again, except Damon the lovestruck idiot." Anna said. "Then what is it?" I said. "Or who is it?" Elena added. "My mother's in there." Anna said. "Pearl." I realized. Anna sighed and nodded.

"Katherine just couldn't help herself. She just had to toy around with both of the Salvatore brothers. And when she got caught, so did my mother. I watched Jonathan Gilbert take her away." Anna explained. "I'm sorry." I said. "You really mean that don't you. Well, I think we'll skip the dead mom bonding so you two can start serving a purpose." Anna said.

"Which is what?" Elena asked. "Leverage." Ana said, taking out Elena's phone. "This belong to you?" She asked. Elena went to reach for it but Anna pulled it out of her reach. She began calling someone I assume was Stefan. Anna demanded a meeting with one of them to discuss how to work together to open the tomb.I wondered if Damon would actually care enough to help.

"I'm leaving." Anna said. Ben came out with Bonnie, throwing her over to us. "Keep them buttoned down. Compulsion won't work. Just use violence. But don't hurt that one." She said pointing to me. I looked at her confused. "Right. I got that."Ben answered. Anna left leaving us with Ben.

"Sit, Behave. So you're the key to this. Literally the one who opens the door. Tell me how long have you been a witch." He asked Bonnie. "Is there anything to drink around here?" Elena asked. "Are you offering?" Ben said getting closer to her. "There's water on the nightstand." Elena reached over for the glass of water. "hey, can I have a sip?" Bonnie asked. Elena handed it to her. Bonnie poured the water on Ben and set it on fire. We ran for the door but he caught Elena.

"Come back in, shut the door!"He said. "Don't hurt her." i said. "Don't make me." He said. We stepped back inside. "Lock it." We locked the door. We are trapped.

Damon's POV

"Got a hot date or you just planning to nab the entire Gilbert family?" I said to Anna. "A party right next to the old cemetery. Isn't that nice of them." She said. "i told you. I work alone." "Yeah, so do I. But you're minus a witch and I'm minus a spell book so what do you say." She offered. "Stefan will come after you, you know. For messing with Elena." I told her.

"Then he won't be too happy when I kill her and her sister if I don't get what I want."She threatened walking away. I realized I haven't seen or heard from Ava since last night. God I can't leave that girl for more than a second. "When do you want to do this?" I caved in. "God, it's like 1864 all over again. You Salvatores are truly pathetic when it comes to women. Tonight after at the church." Anna said walking away.

Avalon's POV

"Witches don't have eternal life right. So you guys can die." Ben asked. "Yeah, we can die." Bonnie admitted. "That sucks."Ben said. Suddenly Stefan came in busting through the door. The sunlight hit Ben and he started burning. "Stefan!" Elena said. He opened the curtains to let more light inside. "Let's get outside." He said. We ran out the door. I was relieved we were saved but kind of sad it wasn't Damon. But I knew he wasn't the type to come save us.

Stefan took us to Bonnie's Grandma's house. ""So what do we do now?" Elena asked. "For now you need to stay here." Stefan said. "A prisoner in my own home? I don't think so." Sheila, Bonnie's grandma, said. "I can't protect you if you leave the house." Stefan said. "We'll protect ourselves." She said. "We need to let him have Katherine back."Elena said.

"Finally." I sighed. "He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it." Elena explained. Glad she finally realizes it. "No! He doesn't deserve to get what he wants." Bonnie said. She really didn't like him. "What other choice do we have?" Elena reasoned. "Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we try to stay out of it. I'll open the tomb. You get you brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will all be over." Sheila said.

"We still have to get Damon to agree." I said. "He already agreed once." Elena said. "Yeah, and we double crossed him. So now he's angry." Stefan said. "He's hurt, there's a difference." I said coldly to them, still angry they lied. They looked down ashamed. "I'll talk to him." I said, walking out of the room and heading to the boarding house.

Elena came with me but thought it was best to stay outside in the car while I talked to him. I agreed and walked inside the study. "Hey." i said. "Did you stage a jailbreak?" he asked. "Stefan." i said. "Oh, brother. Ever the white knight. You okay?" He asked me. I nodded. "So Elena convinced Bonnie and her grandma to help you." i told him, walking down the stairs. "Oh, I doubt that."

"Look, I'm not saying what they did last night was right but they were just trying to protect the town. I promised you that I would help you get katherine back, didn't I?" I asked him. "Yes and I trust you but them?" He shook his head. "They have agreed to help you too. And I trust them enough not to lie to me again. They may not be doing it for you but I am. I'll make sure you get Katherine back." I promised him.

He looked at me. "I'm only agreeing to this for you. Got it?" He said. I smiled. "Yes." I walked over to him and gave him a hug. "You will have a happy ending." I whispered to him. "I'm not so sure about that." He said. "Is everything going okay in here?" Elena asked walking in.

I pulled away and nodded. I grab Damon's arm and dragged him to the car. We drove to the Old Cemetery. We arrived and it was filled with intoxicated teens partying. "The Duke party. I forgot. I hope they stay clear of the church." Elena said. "Your hope not mine."Damon said.

Caroline and Matt came up to us. "Elena, Avalon hey. Where have you two been?" Caroline said holding hands with Matt. I noticed Elena saw it too. "Long story, no time to tell it." Damon answered. "I wasn't talking to you." Caroline said. "Sure you were." Damon said.

"We haven't met yet. I'm Matt." He said holding out his hand. "Matt, there's a reason we haven't met yet. We are going that way." he said grabbing Elena and pushing me towards the church. "Ahh, I'm sorry you guys." Elena said apologetically to them as we walked away.

Damon whistled as we approached Stefan and the Bennetts. "Brother, witches." He said. "Everything okay?" Stefan asked. "I just want to get this over with. Are we ready?" Elena said. "Guess so." Bonnie answered and we headed down into the tomb.

Sheila and Bonnie began lighting torches and beginning the spell. Damon took something out of his jacket. "What's that?" Stefan shone a light over what Damon was holding which was a blood bag. "It's for Katherine. Gotta have something to keep her going. Unless your girl's offering to tap a vein." Damon said.

Bonnie and her Grams began chanting in some foreign language. "What are they saying?" Damon asks. "Sounds Latin." Stefan says. "I don't think its Latin." I said. They continued chanting until the fire roared and the tomb door opened. Stefan went up to go get the fire to burn the other vampires.

Before entering, Damon looked to the witches and then to me. "You ready?" He asked. "What?" I said confused. "You think I'm going to go in there by myself so you can seal me in?" Damon said to the witches. "Don' take her in. I'll bring the walls down." Sheila threatened. "You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?" Damon argued. "As much as I trust you." She countered.

I decided to step in. "Enough both of you. Look, he needs leverage. He needs to know that you're not going to shut the door when he gets inside. I get it. I'll go." I told him. He grabbed a torch from the floor. I nodded reassuringly at them before I entered with him.

As we were walking, i kept hearing noises and chattering around me. I moved closer to Damon. "They can sense you. Now where is she?" He told me knowing i was afraid. He flashed away somewhere. "Damon!" God some friend he is. "Ava?" I heard someone that sounded like Elena screaming my name. "Lena?" I turned around and we bumped into each other.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked her. "I wasn't going to let you go in here alone." I sighed. We started walking to find the exit or Katherine or Damon, whichever came first. There was a bunch of creepy noises everywhere. We clung to each other out of fear. And then we turned to see Anna.

"You must have a taste for it. You scream and shriek and even bother to escape, but you just come right back to it." She said. Elena hit something with her foot and she turned. Her flashlight pointed to a decaying body. "Mother!" Anna ran to her side. "Your boyfriend did this you know." "His father did." Elena defended. "And Jonathan Gilbert. Made a choice a long time ago it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back. I had Jeremy all ready to go but..." we turned and tried to run but Anna flashed in front of Elena and she screamed.

Anna bit into Elena's wrist and forced her to feed her mother. As Pearl fed on Elena, Stefan came running in. "Let her go!" He said. He helped Elena up and told us to run. "We ran back to where Bonnie and her Grams were. "Elena, Stefan" Bonnie started. "He's right behind me." She said. "Stefan, what are you doing?" She said.

I turned to see that Stefan was at the door but wasn't coming out. "It's gonna be okay. We'll fix it." Bonnie said. "What is it?" i asked. "I can't." Stefan said. "Can't can't what?" Elena asked. "The spell's still up, we can't get them out. Yet." Bonnie explained. my eyes widened. Oh no. "You went in there not knowing if you could come back out?" Elena said to Stefan. "I heard you scream." Stefan said. "Damon. We have to get him out. We can't leave him in there. I promised him. We all promised him." I said.

"Even if we are able to break the seal, we won't be able to hold it for long." Sheila said. Stefan nodded and went to go find him. Bonnie and Sheila began chanting but I couldn't take it. I ran into the tomb and searched for Damon. "Ava!" I heard Elena call but I just kept running. I finally heard his voice and Stefan's and went towards it.

"She's not worth it." Stefan said. "No!" Damon yelled. "Damon!" I yelled running to them. The pained look in his eyes made my heart break but we needed to get him out of here. "Damon. Please." I begged. I put my hand on his arm. He slightly nodded and we ran to the tomb entrance. We got out just in time and the tomb door closed right behind us.

I immediately ran outside to Jeremy, Elena and Stefan right behind me. "He's ok. He's alright." Stefan said as Jeremy groaned. I looked to see Damon. I got up and walked to him. I gave him a hug. He didn't hug back right away but i knew he was grateful for it. I knew he was really hurt she wasn't there. All these years searching for her and she wasn't even there.

I pulled away and he flashed home. I got a ride home from Stefan and Elena and went up to Jeremy's room to make sure he was alright. Elena went to Bonnie's house to check on them. I just wanted to get in bed and relax. I walked into my room and saw Damon on my window ledge. I sighed and gave him a small smile. I climbed into bed and patted the space next to him, gesturing for him to sit. He didn't move so i just turned off the light and closed my eyes. I felt the space next to me slump down and someone stroking my hair. I smiled and went to sleep.


	15. A Few Good Men

The Gilbert Twins Ch.15

Avalon's POV

I woke up the next morning and found Damon gone. I hope he won't do anything stupid. I headed downstairs and found Elena on the porch, sitting on the bench. She was leaving a voicemail to Bonnie again who took off after her Grams's funeral. I sat down next to her and put a comforting hand on her knee. She smiled at me.

Jenna walked up to us. "What are you two doing out here? It's cold." She said. "Thinking, writing. The uh, funeral for Bonnie's grandma, it brought back a lot about mom and dad. I was wondering you said that you would do some digging about them, the adoption." Elena said. "Oh yea." i said, remembering. "So did you? Dig?" I asked. "Come on inside." She said.

"We walked inside and she opened her computer and brought out some files. "Your dad kept everything from his medical practice-records, logs, old appointment books. I found an entry from the night you guys were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson." Jenna said. "Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asked. "Being a teenage runaway, probably not." i told her. "First name, maybe." Jenna said.

"But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best Friend? So i binged it. I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3- 2 men, and one woman, Trudie who lived in Grove Hill Virginia." Jenna said. "That's not far from here." Elena said.

"Well watch this." Jenna typed Trudie's name and looked at images. There was a picture of her and Isobel Flemming in their cheer-leading uniform. "Isobel. She was a cheerleader." Elena said with a smile. i could tell she was excited but i didn't know how to feel. "Trudie lives near here. This is her address." Jenna handed Elena a post-it with the address.

"What about Isobel?" I asked. Jenna seemed hesitant to answer but she did. "I couldn't find anything about her. Listen, there's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel." Jenna revealed. "Wait, was as in.." I trailed off. "She died." Jenna said.

A little while later, after finding out the information and Elena talking to Stefan, i went up to her room. "You're going to the address aren't you?" i asked. She nodded. "You coming?" She asked. "Yes, but I'm staying in the car. I'm still not sure about how I feel about Isobel. "Elena nodded understanding and we drove to the address Jenna gave us.

I sat in the car waiting for Elena. I thought about Isobel. On one hand, I wanted to get to know her but if she gave us up for adoption then obviously she doesn't care about us. On the other hand, I hated her. I hated her for abandoning us. It's all so frustrating and complicated. Also, she might be dead? And she was Alaric's wife so that makes him our step-dad of some sort? All this thinking is going to make my mind explode. Elena came back seeming kind of shaken. She started the car hurriedly and we speeded back home.

"What happened?" i asked. "She knows." "Knows about what?" i asked. "Vampires. She served me vervain tea and there was some strange man outside in the middle of the road." Elena explained. "Woa." i said, mind blown.

Elena drove us to the boarding house since she was going with Stefan to the bachelor auction. We entered his room. "Stefan?" Elena said. "Better. Me." Damon walked into the room, shirtless. "You look um..." I stopped. "Dashing? Gorgeous? Irresistible?" He asked. "Wrecked. You look wrecked." Elena finished for me. "No reason why. Do you know that I am one of Mystic fall's most eligible bachelors?" Damon said.

"Huh." Elena said. "yep." Damon said, popping the p. "How are you doing?" I asked. "Never better. Yep." he said. He put on a button up shirt. "What can I do for you? I'm a barrel of favors today. It's my newfound purpose-how can i help people." He said. I chuckled. "I'm just meeting Stefan. We're going to the fundraiser." Elena said. "And I'm just tagging along." I said.

Damon tried to button his shirt but he was too drunk. he turned to us. "help a guy out, will you? Can't get this." he said. I looked to Elena who shook her head and took a step back. I sighed and walked to Damon and started helping him button his shirt. "So we found out who our birth mother is." I said. "Eech. Who cares?" He said. I looked down kind of sad he didn't care.

He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head up to face him. "She left you. She sucks." he said, sincerely. i smiled at him and finished buttoning his shirt. "Stefan. There you are." Elena said hugging Stefan as he came into the room. "Uhh. I need a bigger jacket." Damon said, walking out of the room. i followed him, giving Elena and Stefan a moment alone.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Yes." He said. "Really?" I asked. "Ava, Yes. i promise I am feeling better."I smiled. "Well I'll see you at the auction I guess." I said. "You gonna buy a ticket?" he smirked. "Ohh. You wish, Salvatore." I said walking out of the room.

I headed to the Grill with Elena. As expected the auction was severely boring. Although me and Elena did meet up with Kelly Donavan, Matt's mother who was very hostile towards Caroline. I sat down with Elena and Jenna as Mrs. Lockwood began announcing the bachelors. Stefan walked in just as Damon was being announced.

"And last but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you." Carol said. v"Well I'm tough to fit on a car." Damon said. i scoffed. "Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" She asked. "Oh yeah, L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. near the Duke campus, actually. I think Alaric went to school there didn't you, Ric." he turned to look and Alaric and they had a little stare down.

"Yeah, cause I know your wife did." My head shot up. I looked to Elena who was listening carefully. "I had a drink with her once. She was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was- delicious!" Damon said. My eyes widened as I realized what he meant. i looked to Elena who was realizing the same thing. Her eyes started brimming with tears. "Are you okay?" Jenna asked. "I just need some air." Elena said getting up and running out. I glanced over to Damon before running out after her.

Stefan joined us outside. I just stood there frozen in shock until Elena said something that caught my attention."That man. I saw that man outside of Trudie's." I looked behind us to see a man staring at us. "Go back inside. Come on." Stefan told us. We got back inside but I bumped into Damon. "Whoa. Easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." Damon joked.

Elena snapped. "Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Alaric Saltzman?" Elena said. "What?" Damon asked. "Just as I was starting to think there was something redeemable about you." She said. "Elena." I started. Stefan came and shook his head. "Am I missing something here?" Damon aasked totally confused as to what was happening.

"Did Ava forget to mention earlier when she was talking about our birth mother. The one that gave us up." Damon nodded. "Her name was Isobel." Elena said. Damon's face dropped and he looked to me for confirmation. I nodded slightly and looked down. "Go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her." Elena stormed past Damon and walked out, Stefan went with her.

I looked up to find Damon staring at me. there was a hint of regret in his eyes. "Ava" He started. "No. No. this is all just so complicated." I shook my head. He grabbed my shoulders and held me in place. "Talk to me." He said looking into my eyes. I took a deep breath. "Did you know who she was?" I asked him. "No. Of course not." I looked to see if he was answering honestly. "Now that you do, do you regret it?" I asked quietly, uncertain if I wanted to hear the answer.

"Yes." he said sincerely. "Ok. Did you kill her?" I asked. "No. She came to me, begging for me to turn her. So I did." He explained. "So my birth mother's a.." "Vampire. Yes." He finished for me. "Thank you for telling me the truth." I told him. "So you don't hate me?" he asked. "You're my best friend. I could never hate you. And you didn't know who she was at the time so i can't blame you." I told him. "Thank you." I smiled and hugged him. "But Elena might hate you." I said. "I don't care about her." He said. "Well I'm gonna go make sure she's alright." I squeezed him tightly and then left.


	16. There Goes The Neighborhood

The Gilbert Twins Ch.16

Avalon's POV

One day. I decided today would be the day I get away from everything. There's been so much drama lately and I just needed to get away for a bit so I drove to the only place I could think of right now.

I strolled up to the lake side and sat down on the ground. The last time I was here was with Damon, bonding and sketching. I took the time to reflect on what's been happening. Vampires. A couple months ago I thought they've never existed but now, they're everywhere. And now I'm adopted and my birth mother is a vampire. Everything I thought I knew is gone. All I have left are the remains of my shattered family and my friends. On top of all of that, I somehow found myself falling for the someone who kills for the pleasure of it and has been chasing the love of his life for over a hundred years. But for some reason, it doesn't matter to me.

All I wanted to do now is do what usually keeps my mind occupied. I looked out onto the lake before taking out my sketchpad. I put on earphones and cranked up the music loud. I just let my hand draw what I was thinking.

Elena's POV

"Damon hasn't said a word to me. Every time I try to talk to him, he shuts me down." Stefan said. "Do you think he's still trying to find Katherine?" I wondered. "I don't know. He waited a hundred and forty five years only to find out that Katherine could not care less. I mean it's gotta hurt right?" I sighed. "And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." I jabbed.

"You have every reason to be upset with him. have yo thought about what you're going to do?" He asked. "About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who's related to my vampire ancestor Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother? Nah... I haven't thought about it at all." "I'm sorry I brought it up." Stefan apologized.

"It'd just be nice if we could get through one day without having to deal with any of it. No vampire mother or brother." "No vampires at all?" I smiled. "No vampires but you. I just want to get us back to normal stuff like school and homework and here's a thought: fun." "Ooh, that sounds good to me, when do we start?" We laughed and headed off to live life normally for a day.

Later we were ambushed by Caroline. "I'm thinking nothing huge, just a dinner at the grill maybe a late movie." She said. "You mean like a double date?" Stefan asked. "Two pairs out on a Friday night coupled. Yeah a double date." She said. "Do you think that's a good idea?" I was skeptical about this double date.

"Why not? We all haven't gone out together before and I don't want it to be uncomfortable for us. Look the couple dynamics have changed and there's been a little awkwardness between you, Matt, and me and I just think it's important that we get over it." Caroline explained.

"I don't know." I didn't think this was such a good idea. " I think that sounds like a great idea." Stefan said. "You do?" I asked, disbelieving. "Yeah. A nice evening out with friends. Sounds fun, as in fun." I understood what he meant. "A double date it is." I smiled. "Ok. So we will see you tonight." Caroline said. "Ok." I said and she walked away. "Ok." I said to Stefan. Time for a night out with friends.

That night, we met up with Caroline and Matt at the Grill. "So, Matt. How do you like working here." I tried to start up some conversation. "It's not that bad. Wait staff is pretty good and they can't keep up a bartender to save their lives. I actually put my mom up for the job." Matt answered.

"How has that been? Having Kelly back?" I asked. "You know, same old Kelly. She's trying sort of." I smiled. "Kelly and my mom were best friends growing up. That's how Matt and I first met, we shared a crib together." I explained to Stefan. "You're kidding." Stefan said.

"No, we have known each other our whole lives." Matt said. He stared at me for a bit. We heard some familiar voices and turned to see Damon, Kelly, and Jenna at the bar drinking together. "You got to be kidding me." Matt said.

Now we were at the pool table playing a game while watching the adults at the bar drinking. "At least they're having fun." Caroline said. "They're drunk." I pointed out. "Remember when Elena's parents busted us here after the homecoming?" Matt said.

Caroline laughed. "Oh my god. Yes!" "Well, we were wasted. It was the first time I ever got drunk. I blame Matt." I told Stefan. "Her parents got seated at the next booth." Matt said. "And Matt had me pretend that I was choking so we could get away." I explained. "Except that her dad was a doctor so he jumped in to save her." Matt said.

"And I ran and slipped on the wet floor and bit it in front of everyone. Do you remember that? 3 stitches, a hangover for days, and I was grounded from seeing this one for a week." I said pointing at Matt. We laughed. "I'm gonna go to the restroom. Elena?" I took that as a sign and followed her to the restroom.

I washed my hands while Caroline was sitting on the counter behind me. "So um, what are you doing?" She asked. "What?" "Well, the point of this was to show him how much you care about Stefan. You know, not to hopscotch down memory lane." Caroline said. "I was just trying to make conversation." I explained. "Try less." She left the restroom so I went after her.

"Caroline." i said walking after her. A man suddenly grabbed my arm. "Katherine?" He said. "I'm sorry, you have the wrong person." I told him. "Elena, come on." Caroline said. "My mistake." He let go of my arm and we went back to the pool table. I stood next to Stefan, taking out my phone.

"How's everything going?" I asked, acting normal. "Matt's cheating. Everything's okay?" He asked me. "Everything's great." I said, typing a message on my phone. I showed him it. 'The man over there just called me Katherine.' I wrote. He walked over there but they were already gone.

We headed to the boarding house afterwards with Matt and Caroline. Stefan and Matt were bonding over cars and Stefan showed him his red sports car that's been hiding in his garage. It was going pretty well until Matt made a remark about making out in sport cars with me so Caroline stormed off. We had a tiny argument which ended up with Stefan trying to mend it by letting Matt and Caroline go for a drive in his car. "Are you alright?" He asked me. "If it's not vampires, it's girlfriends." I sighed. He wrapped his arms around me and we embraced until they came back.

Avalon's POV

It was getting really late and dark out. I looked down at my completed sketch. It was of me and Damon, that day we were here. We were sitting on the ground and looking at the lake. i smiled thinking about it. I checked my phone for any missed messages. It was just Elena. Apparently she went on a double date with Stefan, Caroline, and Matt. That must've been awkward. They were currently at the boarding house so I decided to head over there.

I arrived right as they left. God, worst timing ever. I decided to just stay anyways. I caught up with Stefan before he walked in the door. "hey." i said. "hey." he said smiling. "How was your double date?" I asked. "Actually, it was pretty fun. Uhh, I have to lecture Damon for a sec. Would you like to come in?" He said. I nodded and we walked to where Damon was.

He was sitting in the living room, lounging. he turned to look at us. "Don't look at me like that." He said t Stefan. "Are you crazy?" Stefan asked. "What happened?" I asked and was ignored. Eh, Elena will fill me in later. "Save the lecture. Look.." He was cut off by someone who broke through the window. Stefan pushed me back a little. The man stabbed Stefan with a piece of glass.

I gasped and knelt down beside him. Damon pushed the man off Stefan and they began fighting. I pulled out the shard of glass in Stefan's chest just as another woman came busting through the window. She approached me and grabbed me by the throat. She slammed me into the wall and her fangs sank into my neck. I screamed and Stefan pushed her off of me. I sank to the floor as they fought. Stefan staked the woman in the heart as Damon threw the man flying across the room.

The man saw the body of his friend dead and ran out the window. Damon came to my side in an instant. "Are you okay?" He asked me. I nodded. "I remember them from 1864. They were in the tomb." Stefan said. "Yeah, about that." Damon said. We both looked at him.

Damon gave me some of his blood after he explained that all of the tomb vampires had gotten out. Stefan was calling Elena to check up on her. "Could you help me out a little bit?" Damon said. I grabbed the woman's arms and helped Damon drag her into the fireplace. "Well, I guess I should head home now." I said, turning towards the door.

"No way." Damon said. I stopped and turned back to him. "What?" he came closer. "We just got attacked by vengeful tomb vampires and now they have seen you. You are staying here so we can make sure you stay safe." Damon said. "What about Elena? She's probably worried." I said. "Uhh, she doesn't know about this yet." I turned to face Stefan. "What." I said. "Well she wanted to have a normal day and that day isn't up yet so we'll tell her tomorrow." Stefan said.

I sighed. "Fine." I turned to Damon. "Where am I going to sleep?" i asked. He smirked and we walked upstairs. He guided me towards his room. "Seriously?" I asked. He nodded. I sighed and jumped on his bed. "Can I have some clothes?" I asked him. he walked over to his dresser and gave me a T-shirt and boxers. God this is like the second time. "I'm going to take a shower." I said taking the clothes. As, i walked towards the bathroom he sped right in front of me. "Can I join?" He smirked. "Nope." I went under his arms and ran into the bathroom and locked the door. "You're no fun." he said on the other side.

After my shower, I changed into his clothes and walked back into his room. Damon was on his bed, reading a book. I jumped on the bed, next to him. "I've been meaning to ask, where have you been all day? You missed all the fun." he said. I turned so that I was facing him and closed my eyes. "Sketching somewhere. I needed to get my mind off things. Can we talk in the morning? I'm tired." I mumbled.

"Yes. Good night, Ava." He gently kissed my forehead. "Night, Damon." I mumbled. I snuggled into his chest and fell asleep.


	17. Let the Right One In

The Gilbert Twins Ch.17

Avalon's POV

I woke up but didn't open my eyes. I felt the side of the bed slumped down so I knew Damon was next to me. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be asleep but I'm pretty sure he already knew I was awake.

"Morning Ava." He said. I knew it. I turned on my side to face him. "Morning." i said, yawning. "You might want to get up. Your sister is coming to discuss the tomb vampires thing." He told me. "Ugh, she's gonna be grumpy." I groaned. He chuckled. "How did you live with her for 17 years?" He joked. "Honestly, I'm surprised I'm not dead between her and all this vampire stuff." I joked back. We laughed.

"Well, you've come very close." Damon said. "Yup, but it comes with the territory, right?" I sat up. "Right. Get dressed." He said walking out of the room. I changed and got ready. Then I headed downstairs and joined Damon, Stefan, and Elena. "I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night." Damon said boarding up the window that they broke into last night.

Elena rushed over to me and scanned my body for any injuries or bruises. "I'm fine, Elena. Other than a minor headache, I'm fine. Damon gave me his blood so that I would heal." I told her. She nodded. "Yeah. And then what? We turn to the rest of the vampires and say, "Oops, sorry?"Stefan said. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing at his sarcasm.

"I can't believe you made a deal with her." Elena shook her head. "It was more like a helpful exchange of information. And it's not like I had a choice. She's scary..." Damon said. Oh god, if Damon admitted that he is scared of this woman then we should all be scared. "Besides, she's going to help me get Katherine back." Damon continued.

I inwardly sighed. It all leads back to Katherine. "Of course she is. Damon gets what he wants, as usual. No matter who he hurts in the process." I couldn't help but notice Elena glancing my way when she said that. She has always been weary of my friendship with Damon but I didn't really care.

"You don't have to be snarky about it." Damon said. "I told you so." I said. He just rolled his eyes at me. "I woke up this morning to learn that all of the tomb vampires have been released from the tomb. I've earned snarky." Elena said. "How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?" Damon asked. Ugh, here we go again.

"I'm not blaming you Damon. I've accepted the fact that you're a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities." Elena stated. I glared at her. "Ouch." Damon said. "Elena, that wasn't very nice." I said. "Well he's not a nice person." She retorted. "This isn't being very productive. We're gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires. Yeah? Hmmm." Stefan said getting in the middle of their little argument.

Damon left the room. I sighed and went to follow him. "Why are you following me?" He said. "Because I don't want to be stuck in the room with a snarky Elena and a broody Stefan. Also,they're probably gonna do some stuff that I will never be able to unsee so I'm following you." I explained.

He gave me a smile and we walked up to his room. "So what are we going to do about the vampires?"I asked. He whirled around and faced me. "We are not going to do anything. You will stay in this house or your own while Stefan and I take care of the vampires."He stated.

"But why?" I whined. His face turned into a very serious expression. "Because you have almost been killed by them once. Let's not make it twice or this time it might be final. Understand?" His voice seemed to show concern for me but i was more concerned about him. "No, what if you get hurt or worse?" I questioned.

"I will be fine. You on the other hand will feel double the pain of everything so you have to stay safe. Got it?" I looked away, biting my lip. I didn't want him to get hurt or die. I couldn't live with myself if he did. "Ava." He turned my head so I faced him. "Do you understand?" Damon repeated.

"No, but yes, I'll stay out of it because you asked me to. But if I feel the slightest pain coming from you or Stefan, I'm gonna find you guys okay?" I said. He nodded. I wrapped him in a hug and he hugged back, stroking my hair. "Stefan and I will handle it." He promised. "We'll be fine." He said. I nodded.

Later on, Damon was fixing the clock while I leaned against the wall waiting or him to finish. I didn't want to be home right now so I stayed at the boarding house. It's starting to become like my second home.

"Hunting party?" Damon said as Stefan passed by us. "That guy did a number on me last night when he stabbed me. I gotta get my strength back up." He said. "I've got two liters of soccer mom in the fridge." He saw the look on Stefan's face. "No?" Stefan zipped up his jacket and headed for the door. "We'll talk when I get back?" He walked out the door.

"Alright, give my regards to the squirrels." Damon called out. I shuddered. "Does he really eat squirrels?" I wondered. Damon smirked. "Oh yeah, and bunnies and deer. You a fan of Bambi?" Damon teased. I playfully nudged him. "Shut up." He grinned and continued working on the clock.

Damon called Elena again as we were approaching my house. Stefan had gone missing and we haven't heard from him in a while. We thought he could be with Elena but she was ignoring all of Damon's calls. I left my phone in Damon's room so I couldn't call her.

We got to the door of the house and knocked on the door. Elena answered it. "You're ignoring me." Damon said. "The six missed calls? Sorry. My phone's dead." Elena said bitterly. "Is Stefan here?" I asked. "No why? Something wrong?" Elena asked.

"He went out in the woods and didn't come back. I can't get him on his phone either. I figured he was here with you." Damon explained. Elena immediately dialed Stefan's phone. "It's going straight to voicemail. Where could he be?" Elena asked, now worried about Stefan. "You're not going to like what i'm thinking." Damon said.

Elena and I waited out in the car while Damon went into the farmhouse to see Pearl. We figured they were the ones who took storm weather was perfect for them to get out of the house without burning in the sunlight. I felt a slight pain in my hip and i knew what that meant. Damon came back a few minutes later, no Stefan in sight. I guess it was Stefan who got hurt. Elena and i got out of the car. "What happened? Where is he?" Elena asked. "They have him. I can't get in." Damon said.

"Why not?" Elena said. "Because the woman who owns the house is compelled not to let me in." Damon explained. "We can get in." I said. Elena nodded in agreement with me. "You're not going in there."Damon stated sternly. "We're going." Elena said.

"You're not going in there." Damon repeated. "Why are they doing this? What do they want with him?" Elena questioned. "Revenge. They want revenge." He said. "We gotta do something." I said. "We can't let them hurt him." Elena said. "We gotta get him out of there." I said. "I know. I know. But I don't know how to get him out." Damon said.

We decided to ask a certain someone to help us get inside. On the car ride there though, I felt several stabbing pains and much more and I knew Stefan was getting hurt. I shrieked as I felt like a knife was being dragged across my chest and bit my lip so that Damon and Elena wouldn't catch on. I winced as the pain was increasing and Damon noticed.

"Ava, you're bleeding." He said looking over to me. I looked down and saw that my shirt was soaked in blood. Elena looked at me and gasped in horror because she knew why as well. "Let's just hurry." I choked out. We made it to the school and Damon fed me some blood so that I would heal.

We met up in Alaric's classroom. "Stefan's in the house. Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you." Elena said. "We would go" I said gesturing towards me and Elena. "But..." I trailed off. "But their lives are valuable. Yours, on the other hand is.." Damon cut in. "Stefan told me about your ring." She said.

"What about it?" Alaric asked. "Let me recap. You tried to kill me. I defended myself. You died. Then according to my brother, your ring brought you back to life. Am I leaving anything out." Damon asked. "Yeah. The part where I try and kill you again. Only this time, I won't miss." Alaric threatened.

I instinctively moved in front of Damon much to the history teacher's surprise. "Mr. Saltzman please." I started. "It's Stefan." Elena finished. "I'm sorry but it's not my problem girls." Alaric said.

"That's a shame. Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife." Elena and I looked to Damon with questioning looks but he stayed firm. "You're lying." Alaric said. "Am I? Why don't you ask her for yourself? Coward. Come on." He led me and Elena to the door.

"Alright wait. I'll go." Alaric gave in. I felt bad for the man because I just knew that Damon was lying about finding his wife. But this was Stefan, Elena's boyfriend, Damon's brother, and my friend so desperate times call for desperate measures.

Alaric laid out all of his weapons against vampires on the table of his classroom. "Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon remarked. "I have you to thank for that." Alaric retorted. Elena picked up one of the syringes. "What are these?" She asked. "Those are tranquilizer darts filled with vervain." Alaric explained.

"Just get me in. I'll get Stefan out." Damon said. "That's your plan? You're just gonna take them all on yourself?" I asked. "Well, hopefully I'll be a little stealthier than that." he answered. Elena grabbed one of the vervain darts.

"Whoa. What are you doing?" Alaric asked. "We're going with you guys." She answered and looked to me. I nodded in agreement. "No. No. No. No. No. No way." Damon said. "You need us. We can get in the house while you distract them. We'll find Stefan and get him out." Elena said.

" You'll get yourselves killed. You're not going in there." Damon said sternly. "We're going." Elena stated. "So when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can. I know how to sneak around where they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way." Damon said to Alaric, completely ignoring us.

"Damon now is not the time to be the lone ranger." Elena retorted. "Fine Elena you can drive the getaway car. Ava calls shotgun. You're not going in the house." He said. I scoffed. "You can't stop me. It's Stefan we're talking about here. You don't understand." Elena argued.

"Oh I understand. I understand. He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it." Damon sneered. "Can you just not joke around for 2 seconds." Elena snapped. I groaned. This was getting nowhere. "I can't protect you two, Elena. I don't know how many vampires are in there." He snapped his fingers. "That's how long it takes to get your head ripped off. I have to be able to get in and out. I can't be distracted with your safety. Or this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from...including Stefan. I know. I get it. I understand." Damon said. That got Elena to shut up but I knew she was going to do something later. "If we're gonna go, let's go." Alaric said.

We arrived to the farmhouse a little while later. Elena and I got out to help them get ready and Damon pulled me aside. "What?" I asked. "Promise me you will not go into the house." He said. "Damon..." I started. "No promise me." He said in a serious tone. "No, Damon I won't. What if you get hurt?" I asked. "I'll heal, you won't. Your life is more important than mine, Ava." He said.

"Damon Salvatore, your life is just as important as mine. You have a brother who loves you even if he doesn't admit it. Elena hates you some times but when it comes to it, she will be there for you. And if you don't see that then listen to me. I will not allow you to die. You are too important to me and I don't think I can handle someone else dying much less you. So no." I was on the brink of tears.

Damon put his hand on my cheek and it felt so nice to feel his touch. "Ava, listen to me. I will not be dying today okay? I just really need you to stay in the car okay? Everything will be fine. We'll get Stefan out safe and you will not be going in that house." He stated firmly. I looked away from his gaze. "Ava, please." I looked back into his eyes and saw genuine concern and worry.

I nodded. "I promise." I replied and wrapped him into a tight hug. "Don't die and get out safe." I whispered in his ear. He nodded and I let go. He and Alaric went inside the house and i waited with Elena in the car.

A couple minutes later, she was getting antsy. She pulled out a vervain dart from her bag. "Whoa. What are you doing with that?" I asked. "I'm going in. You coming?" She asked. I shook my head." No. No. No, Damon said we have to stay in the car." i reminded her.

"When have we ever listened?" Elena asked. "Elena... I promised." I told her. "Fine but I'm going with or without you." She said and got out of the car. Damn us crazy Gilberts. I got out of the car. "Elena you can't go in there." I told her. "Ava, it's Stefan. What if it was Damon in that house being tortured?" I looked down. I couldn't think of Damon being tortured. I nodded. "Alright, but do me a favor. When Damon kills me, scatter my ashes in the ocean." I told her. She nodded.

We approached the house quietly. "Okay, I'll go find Stefan." Elena whispered. "Then I guess I'll distract." I whispered back. Elena nodded and she went down the cellar way. I quietly tried to open the front door without alerting anyone. It worked and I ventured further looking for Stefan, Damon, or any vampire.

Elena's POV

There was only one person guarding the door to where I knew Stefan was. I held up my vervain dar ready to inject him with it but a stake appeared in his chest. Damon appeared looking very mad. "Are you insane?" He hissed.

We went into the room that the guard was previously looking after and found Stefan looking in bad shape. "Elena... You shouldn't be here." Stefan said. "She was suppose to stay in the car. At least Ava stayed in the car." Damon said.

I felt a little guilt churning in my stomach. "Uhh! No, not him." Stefan said as Damon was about to kill the other vampire in the room. He was tied down to a chair and staked in the knees. "Whatever. Let's get you down." Damon said.

"There's vervain on the ropes." Stefan told him. "Elena pull that." Damon told me. I untied the ropes that held Stefan and let him lean on me for support. He was very weak. "All right, let's go." Damon said walking towards the door.

"Wait." Stefan said. "What? Guys, come on. We have to get out of here." Damon said standing at the doorway. Stefan pulled out the stakes from the other vampire. "Come on, we gotta go." Damon said again.

"The other one." I helped him pull out the last stake and we followed Damon out the door. "Can you get him to the car?" Damon asked. "Yeah. Damon there's another thing." I said. "What?" he asked. "Ava's not in the car." I told him. "What?" He growled. "She came with me into the house." I said. He looked very very angry. "Get Stefan to the car." he said.

"What about you?" I asked. "You rescue yours, I'll rescue mine." And he left.

Avalon's POV

I realize that I walked into a house full of very old and powerful vampires without any sort of weapon. I was walking in blind and definitely would not survive a showdown with one right now.

Nonetheless, I continued walking aimlessly. Until I heard a low growl from behind me. I turned to face a very hungry vampire. "Hi" I said sheepishly. Just as he was about to lunge for me, his heart was torn from his body and he fell limp to the floor. Behind him revealed a very pissed off Damon. Boy, I was in big trouble.

"Hey, Damon." I said innocently. "We will talk about this later." He growled. I nodded and he led me to the door where Alaric met up with us. We walked outside to find ourselves surrounded by tomb vampires. "How many more of those vervain darts do you have left?" I asked Alaric.

"One." he answered. "Not gonna be enough." Damon said. We turned back and walked into the house. "So what you said to get me to do this , about my wife, it was a lie, wasn't it?" Alaric asked right when we got inside.

"Yup."Damon and I said at the exact same time. "Stop. What's going on here?" We heard a female voice coming in from outside. Pearl walked into the household and noticed the dead bodies. "What did you do?" She said to us.

"Me? Your merry little band of vampires spent the day torturing my brother." Damon hissed. "Trust me. The parties responsible for this will be dealt with." She said. "Our little arrangement doesn't work unless you learn to control them." Damon told her. "This wasn't supposed to happen." Pearl said honestly. "Well it did. If i had a good side, not a way to get on it. He grabbed my arm and led me out the door, Alaric trailing behind.

Damon hadn't said a word to me the whole ride home but I knew he would explode the minute we set foot on the ground. I knew he was mad at me for breaking my promise to him but I didn't mean to. He dropped me off at my house without saying a word. Elena decided to go with Stefan to talk.

After pacing back and forth in my room, I decided to head to the boarding house. I walked through the front door and noticed Elena wasn't here. She must've left. I walked to Damon's room and found him staring out the window. "What are you doing here?" He said without turning towards me.

"I came to apologize." I said. "You broke your promise." He turned to me. I walked towards him. "I know and I'm really sorry." I said, sincerely. "You're sorry? Ava, tonight you could've been killed. All that talk about caring if I died, did you ever wonder that maybe I felt the same if you did too?" He said.

It hadn't occurred to me that Damon might've actually cared about me. "I know but I didn't have a choice. I couldn't let Elena go alone." I said. "Yeah well she got the empty cellar while you got the house full of vampires." Damon spat. "Damon, I'm sorry. I didn't think that it would mean so much if I died. But I couldn't let my twin sister go alone. And I couldn't just sit there while Stefan was in trouble. What if it was you in there? Wouldn't you want me to come and help?" I was close to tears.

"Not if it meant you dying." He yelled back. He softened once he saw how sad I looked. He wrapped me into a hug. "Just don't do that again. Or I will lock you in a cellar too." He warned. I smiled a little. "I'm sorry Damon. I really am. I wanted to keep my promise to you." I said into his chest.

He stroked my hair as I spoke. "I know. I know. It's okay. As long as you're safe." Damon said. I shook my head and turned to face him. "As long as we are both safe." I said. He nodded. "Well it's late, I'm gonna head home now. Goodnight Damon." "Goodnight Ava." He said. I hugged him tightly before departing home.

I came home to find Elena looking quite distressed. "Elena what's wrong?" I asked concerned. "It's Vicki. They found her body." She said close to tears. "Oh no. Jeremy." My eyes widened. "He's locked up in his room." Elena said, breaking down. I enveloped her into a hug. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." I said, trying to soothe her. If only I believed that myself.


	18. Under Control

The Gilbert Twins Ch.18

Avalon's POV

"Come on Jeremy, going to school!" Elena yelled. "Walking out the door now!" I yelled as well. "Forgot this." Jenna handed Elena her thermos. "Thank you." She said. I opened the door and it revealed John Gilbert. "Avalon!" He greeted with a smile. "Uncle John. Hi." I said putting on a fake smile.

He came in. "Elena." he said. She also put on a fake smile. "Jenna." "John you made it." Jenna said bitterly. Yup, the Gilbert women really hated John. "I said I would be here before noon." John said. "What you say and what you do are two very different things."Jenna pointed out.

Jeremy came down the stairs. "Uncle John, what's up?" He said. Jeremy didn't quite hate Uncle John like we did. "Hey!" Jeremy smiled and walked past him to the door. "How long are you staying?" Elena asked. "I don't know yet." he answered. "Okay, well. We gotta get to school. See you later." I dragged Elena out the door with me, desperately wanting to get out of the house.

Afterschool, I stayed in my room. Stefan was here with Elena. I got up when I heard footsteps pacing past my door. I looked and saw Stefan practically flying out the door. I went into Elena's room and saw a broken lamp. "What happened?" I asked. "Nothing. Can you call Damon?" She asked. "Sure."

I dialed Damon and he came in less than 3 minutes. I went downstairs to open the door. Damon strolled through. "Oh good you're here." I said closing the door. "You ask I come, I'm easy like that." He smirked. I directed him to upstairs but he noticed Jeremy in the kitchen.

"No Ava, I will not go to your bedroom with you." He said loudly. I smacked his arm and pulled him upstairs to Elena's room. He laid on her bed and played with Elena's teddy bear. "Did you know that your uncle has been kicking it with the founder's council?" he said.

"What?" I was shocked to hear this. "Yep." He said. "Perfect. We'll just add that to the growing list of how everything's falling apart." Elena said, frustrated. Damon's eyes wondered to the broken lamp in the corner. "What happened there?" He asked. "Uh..nothing. Look Damon. I'm worried about Stefan. He says that everything's okay it he's clearly struggling. How long is it gonna take before he goes back to normal?" Elena asked.

"A few days give or take."Damon said simply. "It's been a few days." Elena pointed out. "Give then. I don't know. What's the big deal?" he asked, getting up. "He's not himself Damon." She said. He strolled over to her dresser and opened a drawer. "Well maybe his problem is that he has spent too long not being himself." Damon pulled out a bra from the drawer. Elena took it back and put it away.

"Please don't make me sorry for asking you." Elena said. "Technically, Ava asked me. It is what it is Elena. The Stefan you know was 'Good behavior Stefan, 'Reign it in Stefan', 'fight against his nature into an annoying excessive level Stefan' but if you think there isn't another part to this then you haven't been paying attention." Damon told her.

He took a picture from her mirror but Elena snatched it back. "He's not you, not even close." Elena stated. "Well, he doesn't want to be me. That doesn't mean deep down that he's not." Damon pointed out. He left it at that and left.

After talking about it, Elena and I decided that it was time to tell Jeremy about us being adopted. We went to his room and knocked on the door. "hey." Elena said. "What's up?" He asked. "Do you have some time to talk?" She asked. "Uh, yeah. Sure." He said. "Not here. Come on. Let's get out of the house." I said.

"I just can't believe mom and dad never told you that you were adopted." Jeremy said as we strolled down the dirt path. "I'm sure they would have eventually." I said. "Why were you worried about what I thought?" He asked. "Because... I don't know. It's weird. Going you whole life thinking you're blood related to someone." Elena explained. "Does it bug you guys that we're not?" Jeremy asked.

"Don't worry Jer. All that matters is you're our brother. You're stuck with us." I said putting an arm around his shoulder. He smiled. "So. Mr. Saltzman said you've been doing great in history now." Elena said changing the topic.

"Yeah. He's really been helping me out. He gave me some extra credit and stuff." Jeremy said. "He loved your vampire paper." My interest shot up at this. Jeremy had written a vampire paper? I looked to Elena and she gave me a look that said 'I'll tell you later.' "He thought I had a clever angle." He said.

"What drew you to the subject matter?" I asked. "I don't know. Boredom or maybe I'm just as nuts as the long line of Gilbert crazies." Jeremy said. "Gilberts aren't crazy." Elena said. "Eh, they kinda are." I joked. "Easy for you two to say. You're not one." Jeremy said. "Ouch." Elena and I said at the same time. I playfully punched him and he took off running. I chased after him and Elena joined as well.

It was time for the Founder's Day kickoff party and it's customary for the Gilberts to attend even though I'm not even a Gilbert, not anymore.I arrived in the front door and scanned through the crowd. I decided to go separately from Elena since she was going with Stefan. As i was looking through the crowd someone came up from behind me and put their their arm around my waist.

I jumped and turned to find Damon. I sighed and relaxed. "Don't scare me like that." I scolded. "Sorry." He apologized. "Have you seen Elena?" I asked. "Sure, she's dancing with my drunk brother." He said. I raised my eyebrows. "Stefan? Drunk? Is the world falling apart?" I joked. He chuckled. "Wanna dance with me?" he asked. I smiled and nodded.

He led me to the dance floor and we danced to the music. I was trying very hard not to step on his feet. "Relax." He whispered in my ear. It sent a shiver up my spine but I did and I had fun. We danced and talked until we stopped and walked over to the bar.

"Do you always drink?" i asked. "Yes. You should try it." He said handing me a glass. "No thanks. I rather stay sober for these parties even if they make me want to fall asleep." I said pushing the glass away. "Oh but it's so much more funner with me here isn't it?" He smirked. I chuckled. "Maybe." I said.

Elena came up to us. "Have you noticed what your brother has been up to?" She asked. "No, i have been to preoccupied with yours." Damon said. "What?" I asked, Elena and I both looked to him. "Jeremy has been asking questions about Vicki Donovan's death." he clarified. "He knows her death was ruled an overdose." Elena said.

"Really? 'Oh but sheriff someone buried her. Who would do that?' I know I know! Me! I mean I could compel him but he's wearing vervain." "No, I don't want you to compel him." I said. "If he keeps asking questions..." He said. "Damon, no, we're serious. We're not gonna do that again. We'll handle it." Elena said. He took a rose and handed to me. "Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you." I took the rose and gave a small smile.

He walked away and I turned to Elena. "I'm gonna go talk to Jeremy. You coming?" She asked. I shook my head. "I don't think I can look at him and lie again." I told her. She nodded in understanding and walked away.

I mostly hung around Jenna for the remainder of the party. A little while later, we got tired and decided to go home. We picked up Elena and headed back to the Gilbert house.

"Not so excited that we have another month of these Founder's Day events." Jenna said. "tell me about it." I said. Elena headed up to check on Jeremy so I just went to my room and showered. I came back out in my pajamas Damon was lying on my bed. I jumped up and shrieked. He smirked. "Cute PJ's." He said. "Ava, you okay?" Jenna yelled from downstairs. I sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." I shouted back.

"Stop scaring me." I told him as I made my way to the bed. I sat next to him. "So your Uncle John knows about me and Stefan." He said. My head shot up. "What?" "Yup. He knows all about vampires and the tomb." he said. I sighed. "Well I guess the Gilberts just can't stay out of the vampire business." I said.

"Also, I may have, sort of.. killed him." He said slowly. "What?!" I practically shouted. "Relax. He came back to life." He said like it wasn't a problem. "Ava? You sure your okay?" Jenna shouted yet again. "Perfectly fine." I shouted back. "Okay first, why did you kill him?"I asked. "Because he knew too much and he was being an ass." Damon said.

"He's an ass all the time but that doesn't mean you can kill him for it. So how did he come back to life? I questioned. "Well he had one of those nifty rings like Alaric has so he came back to life." Damon explained. "So John and Alaric have the same ring. Alaric got his from Isobel who was Elena and I's birth mother. And my father-adoptive father- was the one who delivered us and John was his brother." I worked out in my head. "Bingo." He said.

"So there's a possibility John knew Isobel?" I asked. He nodded. "God this is all so twisted and complicated." i said. "Well don't worry about it right now. Go to sleep." I sighed and nodded. He kissed my forehead lightly and disappeared out the window. "Night Damon." I whispered as I turned off the light and went to sleep.


	19. Miss Mystic Falls

The Gilbert Twins Ch.19

Avalon's POV

"Okay, this week we're gonna set outside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach Founder's day. Apparently the community leaders feels it's more important than World War 2 but hey what do I know?" Alaric said. The door opened and I saw Bonnie entering the classroom. "Sorry I'm late." She said.

"Well it looks like we will be at full occupancy today. Welcome home Bonnie." She sat in the seat behind me and I turned to smile at her. She returned the smile and looked at Elena who also was smiling. Her gaze transferred to Stefan and her smile faded. I looked at Elena confused who was looking the same way. I shrugged and turned back to the board.

After class, Elena wanted to talk to Bonnie so I tagged along. "Bonnie!" Elena shouted after her. We finally caught up to Bonnie. "Hey." She said quietly. "Hey, I tried to grab you after class but you had already taken off. How are you? How's your family?" Elena asked. "We're dealing, it's been hard." Bonnie answered. "Everyone here really missed you." I said.

"yeah, I just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral and honestly after Elena told me the tomb spell failed, I just didn't really want to come back." I felt bad for Bonnie. "I hope that you understand why I called...I wanted you to know before you came home." Lena said. "I understand why...I just wish I didn't know." She said. There was a long pause of awkward silence. "I know it's been really hard..." Elena started. We were interrupted by Caroline coming towards us.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! Thank god you're home." Caroline said, hugging Bonnie. "I know we talked every day but I missed you." Car said. I raised my eyebrows. Talked everyday? She barely spoke a word to me and Elena. I looked to Lena who seemed upset about it too. "How are you doing?" Caroline continued.

"Better. Better. You know, glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy." Bonnie answered. "Well I can help with that. Major wardrobe problem. You need to help me pick up the perfect dress for the Founder's court." Caroline said, peppy. "The Founder's court? Did I miss something?" I asked. "The founder's Court! You know, Miss Mystic Falls. they announced it today and you, Elena, and I are all on it." Caroline explained.

Oh god, I completely forgot about that. "Oh my god! We signed up for that so long ago..We completely forgot." Elena said exactly what I was thinking. "So, are you guys dropping out then?" Caroline asked. "I wish." I muttered. "We can't." Elena said, sadly. "No?" Caroline asked. "Their mom is the one who wanted them to enter." Bonnie explained to Caroline. I nodded and looked down at the floor.

The interviews for the Miss Mystic Falls were being held today. I really didn't want to sit down and talk about myself and answer a bunch of stupid questions so I decided to just not go. I went over to the boarding house to see what Damon was doing. I heard a familiar voice as I approached the house.

"I'll tell the entire council what you are." I heard the voice say. "Go for it! I'll kill every last one of them. Then I'll sever your hand, pull your ring off, and I'll kill you too. Do you understand that?" Damon said. I walked through the front door to find Damon and Uncle John. "What's going on here?" Both of their heads snapped to me.

"Just a friendly conversation with Damon." John said. "Shouldn't you be at the interviews?" He continued. "I decided not to go." I told him stepping towards them. "Hmm. What would your mother say about that?" I looked down. Damon took a step closer to me. John chuckled. "She would be very disappointed that you're not honoring her wishes."His words hurt but I didn't want to show it. Instead I found the floor very interesting.

"Better yet, what would your father say if he knew you were hanging around a vampire? I know, he would stake it himself because that's what they deserve. Your father raised you better than this. He'd be disgusted by the choices you've made." John continued. I was close to tears at this point because I knew what he was saying was true.

Damon stepped in front of me, almost protectively. "Get out. Get out now." He said. John scoffed and walked out the door. Damon turned to me. "You okay?" he asked. I nodded not wanting to say anything at the moment. "Don't listen to him. Remember he's a jackass." I smiled lightly. "So what was he talking about? Something about interviews?" He asked walking into the living room. I followed and sat on the couch.

"Miss Mystic Falls. The interviews for the contestants are today." I told him. "You're in it?" He asked disbelievingly. I chuckled. "Yeah, but I didn't want to be. My mom signed me and Elena up but I wasn't too happy about it. Elena was all for it because mom made it seem so fun. i thought it was stupid and degrading. but she really wanted both of us to participate so she just signed me up. I didn't have a say in it apparently. I got mad at her for about a week until my dad started to convince me it would be fun as well. I got fed up with them and just decided to go along with it. And then the accident came and it still didn't seem fun so I'm skipping the interviews and hopefully they'll get the hint that I want to drop out." I explained.

Damon got up and sat down beside me. "I think you should participate." he said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Why?" I asked. "Because it'll be fun." He teased. I nudged him. "You should participate so you can show the rest of the girls how degrading it is." he said. I laughed. "It's just a stupid contest. You participate, get it over with, and if you win or not, it's no problem." he said.

I thought about it and then nodded. "Alright." I sighed. He smirked in victory. "Great and I'll be your partner." Damon stated. "What?" I asked. "Your date. For the dance. In case you forgot, I have been to plenty of these pageants." He said.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would want to go with me." I stated honestly. "Well I do and that's final." I smiled. "Well then I'll ask properly." I got up and faced him. "Damon Salvatore, would you like to be my escort?" I laughed. He got up as well. "i accept your offer, ms. Gilbert." He grabbed my hand and kissed it. We laughed.

"Well rehearsals for the dance are at the school later." I said. "I already know the dances." "Yeah but I don't." I reminded him. "Or do you want me to step on your toes and make a fool out of myself?" I asked. "Good point. Let's go." He said pulling me out the door.

We arrived at the school and met up with Elena and Stefan. Elena looked at me and Damon with a confused expression. "Where were you at the interviews Ava?" She asked. "At the boarding house. I didn't really feel like going." She looked at me with a pointed look. "You mean you wanted to drop out." She crossed her arms.

"Yes, but I'm not. I already explained it to Mrs. Lockwood so let's just drop it." I sighed. Elena looked to Damon. "Oh and Damon's my escort." I said quickly. Her eyes widened. Damon grinned. "Let's get to practice yea? Okay."I dragged Damon away. "I don't think your sister approves of this." He pointed out. "yeah well it doesn't matter. let's just get this over with remember." He nodded and everyone began practicing.

"Honor your partner." Mrs. Lockwood said. I curtsied and Damon bowed. "Flirt with your eyes." Elena and Stefan were laughing next to us. "This is ridiculous." Elena said. "Your just saying that because you don't know how to do it." Damon heckled. "Sorry but only two of us were around when the dance was invented." I added. "Ouch." Stefan said.

He spun Elena around and dipped her. I giggled. Mrs. Lockwood scolded them and we practiced for a few more minutes. Later on the next group came to practice and Bonnie was with Caroline. "Bonnie. hey." Elena said. "hey how are you?" Stefan said. Bonnie remained silent which made things very awkward. "I begged Bonnie to fill in for Matt, he had to work today." Caroline explained. I nodded.

Elena turned to Bonnie. "Bonnie, do you have a minute?" She asked. "We only have 30 minutes for rehearsal." She said, obviously trying to avoid it. "It'll only take a minute, please?" Elena begged. Bonnie slightly nodded and started to walk out of the room. Elena started to but then noticed me just standing there and nudged me. I furrowed my brows. She tilted her head in the direction of Bonnie. I looked to Damon who nodded. I sighed and followed Elena.

"Bonnie, you have to tell us what's wrong." Elena said. "It's not worth talking about." She answered. "What do you mean not worth it? You barely said ten words to me or Ava and you won't even look at Stefan. Is that what it is? Is it Stefan?" Elena inquired. "Listen, I can't just pretend that everything's okay. Everything my Grams did was to protect us from those vampires in the tomb. And now they're out which means she died for nothing." Bonnie stated.

"I'm so sorry Bonnie. What can I do to make it better?" Elena asked. "That's just it, there's nothing you can do. I blame him, Elena, him and Damon." Bonnie looked at me.. "I'm not gonna put you two in a situation where you have to choose sides. I'm just having a hard time with it okay?" Bonnie confessed. We nodded and she went back inside to practice with Caroline.

"That went well." i said. I started walking back but Elena pulled me back. "Why'd you want to drop out?" She asked. "Because I didn't want to do this. I never have. And after these last few months, it just seemed really not important." I admitted. "But mom and dad both wanted you to participate." She reminded me. "I know but still, I didn't want to do it." I stated.

"And Damon convinced you otherwise?" She remarked. "Maybe." I muttered. "What's going on with you two?" Lena asked. "He's my friend." I said and it was partially true but I didn't want to mention the other thing to her. "Look, he's not a good guy Ava." I groaned. "Elena, I'm tired of all these talks about Damon. He's not all bad and I would really appreciate it if you would stop judging him." i walked away angrily despite her calling after me.

As I walked out the door I felt a familiar hand pull me back. "I don't want to talk about it Damon." I said. "I know. Thank you though." I looked at him confused. "For defending me." He clarified. He was listening in no doubt. "I'm your friend Damon. I don't like it when people insult you." I said honestly. He smiled. "Want to go to your house or mine?" He asked.

"I have to go home to get my dress." he nodded and drove me home. "I'll see you later Damon." I waved goodbye and headed in the household. Elena was already there. "Ava, I'm sorry about what I said." She apologized. "Can you please just keep the Damon bashing to a minimum?" I asked. She nodded and we hugged. I went upstairs to grab my dress and walked down with Jenna.

"I thought I was driving." We heard John say. "No need, we're going with Ric." Jenna said. I joined Elena's side and we walked out to the car.

I was curling my hair while Jenna was curling Elena's. Since I wasn't really into these pageants, i was going for a really simple look so I just curled my hair like how I would normally. Elena was doing a nice half up half down hairstyle though. "Thanks for helping me." Elena said to Jenna. "Don't thank me until you're sure your hair isn't gonna burn off." Jenna joked.

"You know I remember when mom and I were first applying for this, she was so excited." Elena reminisced. "I wasn't. I didn't even know she signed me up until she came back." I rolled my eyes. Jenna chuckled. "You were excited too, Elena." "I was. She just made it sound like so much fun. Lots have changed since then." Elena sighed sadly.

"No kidding." I added. "I hate to break it to you, but its a little late for cold feet." Jenna said. "Me? Cold feet? Never?" I giggled. "I don't have cold feet. I just...I think I'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here." Elena said.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, your hair would have a better chance if she was." We laughed. "Okay, we should go put our dresses on. be careful with that thing, don't hurt anybody." Elena joked.

I found an empty room and called Elena over. Before she was about to change, Damon showed up. "Hey you can't be back here." I said. "We need to talk." He seemed to be really serious. "Does it have to be right now?" Elena asked. "Normally I would have a completely different outlook of what I'm about to tell you but since it could really inconvenience me, I'll squeal."

"What are you talking about?" i asked completely confused. "Stefan's still drinking human blood." Damon confessed. "What?" Elena exclaimed. "yeah, a month ago I would have rejoiced but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle." I was shocked that Stefan would do this and not tell Elena.

I was barely paying attention to what Damon and Elena were saying until Stefan walked in. "What's going on in here?" He asked. "I was just filling the twins in on your extra-curricular activities."Damon informed him. "What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, feigning innocence. "We know about the blood Stefan." Elena said.

"I'll uh take Ava downstairs." Damon said leading me towards the door. We made it downstairs. I sighed. "So Stefan's gone completely rogue?" I asked. "Yup." He said popping the 'p'. "Great." I said sarcastically. "You look beautiful by the way even without your dress." He complimented. "Thanks but it's just a little above what i normally look like. I'm pretty sure I can't beat half the girls here." I said.

"Don't be so modest." He said. "Not modest, just honest." I corrected. He laughed. "Well I better go change before I get hassle by Mrs. Lockwood. I'll see you soon." I walked back up the stairs.

I opened the restroom door but got startled by Stefan who was in there. "Oh sorry. You okay Stefan?" He faced me and I gasped. His eyes were veiny and red. His fangs were extracted as well. "Stefan?"

Elena's POV

"Miss Tina Fell, escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore." Mr. Lockwood announced downstairs. "has anyone seen Amber?" Mrs. Lockwood asked. I looked down the stairs to try and find Stefan. "Do you see Stefan down there?" i asked Caroline. Caroline looked downstairs. "Nope, just my boring fill in escort." She answered.

"What happened to Matt?" I questioned. "They wouldn't let him out of work. Wait what happened to Stefan?" She wondered. "I don't know, he just disappeared somewhere. I can't find Ava either." I told her. "Well Ava probably ditched on purpose. She was never one for these contests." "What am I doing? I never should have gone through with this. " I said, starting to freak out. "What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

"I need to find Stefan. This isn't me, I'm not this person anymore." I said. "No, no, noway, no. You had your chance to drop out and believe me I was all for it because there is no way I can beat you. Elena, you're doing this because it was important to your mom." Caroline reasoned.

Damon's POV

I stood with the other escorts but noticed Stefan wasn't here. That can't be good. "Damon." I heard Elena whisper. "Damon I hope you can hear me. Ava isn't up here. She's missing. I heard her say. Uh oh. Ava's missing and Stefan's no where in sight. That can't be good. "Miss Caroline Forbes and her escort, Jeffery Lockwood Hamilton." The mayor announced.

As Caroline walked down the stairs, I informed Mayor Lockwood that Ava would not be participating anymore. I then stood in the crowd scanning for Ava.

Avalon's POV

"I don't hurt people.I don't do that. I'm the good brother." Stefan said, pacing around. We were in the parking lot away from the crowd. "I know that Stefan. Just calm down." I tried to soothe him.

"I can't calm down. I want to kill you, I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood. But I'm trying so hard not to, Ava." I could tell he was on the brink of exploding. "I know Stefan, I know you won't hurt me." He took a step closer to me.

"But I do. I just want one taste. That's all I need, one taste." He came closer. I stepped back but I was stopped by my back hitting a car. "Stefan.." He bit into my neck and I shrieked in pain.

He pulled away after a bit and I held my neck which was bleeding. "I can't do this.. I can;t do this." he said frantically. "It's alright, Stefan." "No, no it's not. Listen to me. I need you to run." he said. "Stefan." "No, Ava please, run, Run!" He yelled so I did. I ran as far as I could but then I bumped into something hard. I turned to find Stefan in front of me, eyes red and veins underneath.

"Stefan..." I was cut off by him biting down on my neck. It was much harder this time and much more painful. I couldn't stop myself from screaming. "Stefan, stop!" I heard Elena's voice approach. Suddenly, Stefan was ripped off of me. I fell to the floor and Elena rushed to my side. "Don't touch her." Damon snarled.

Stefan stumbled back. "Stefan, come on get control. It's okay, come on. breath through it man." Damon tried consoling. Stefan threw Damon up a tree. "No!" I yelled. "Stefan stop it!" Elena shouted. Stefan fell to the floor clutching his head. Elena and I turned to see Bonnie doing a spell. "it's okay Stefan." Damon said. Stefan looked at us in shame and ran off.

Damon knelt to my side. "Hey, are you okay?" I shook my head violently and leaned into his chest, sobbing. He stroked my hair and I heard sirens approach. "Listen, Sheriff Forbes is here and I need you to help me cover for Stefan, can you do that?" He asked softly. I nodded.

Sheriff Forbes questioned Elena, Bonnie, Damon, and me until she finally let us go. Damon healed me up and drove to the boarding house. We waited outside for Elena and Stefan to finish talking.

I lied down on the hood of the car and stared at the stars. Damon lied down beside me. "So who won?" I asked him. "Little Miss Barbie did." "She deserves it." I responded. "You left me stranded with the other barbie dolls you know?" He said. I laughed. "Sorry but your brother kidnapped me and then tried to drain me dry." I joked but his face turned serious.

I turned to face him. "It's not his fault. like you said he was controlled by the blood." I reasoned. "I don't blame him, I blame myself." he admitted. "What? Why?"

He turned so he was facing me. "Because you got hurt. And I wasn't there to protect you." He stated. i sighed. "It's not your fault. You can't always be there to protect me. All you need to do is be there when I fall." I mumbled the last part but I'm sure he heard it. He nodded and we continued stargazing until we heard shouting and a thud coming from the house.

"Time to go." Damon said getting up. I sighed and he helped me down. We went to Stefan's room and found him on the floor, Elena standing by him sadly. "You sure you want to do this?" Damon asked her. "I'm sure." She answered.

We put him in the cellar in the basement. "There's no guarantee it's going to work." Damon warned. "It has to." Elena said. He started to walk back out but Elena didn't budge. "Coming?" i asked her. "I'm gonna stay here." She said. She leaned against the wall and sat. I sighed and sat across from her. Damon looked at me and sat down beside me. I rested my head on his shoulder and we all sat there through the night.


	20. Blood Brothers

The Gilbert Twins Ch.20

Avalon's POV

Elena was staring through the bars of the cellar at Stefan. He seemed very depressed and won't talk to us. "it's so hard to see him locked up like this." Elena said sadly. "You're the one that locked him up." Damon pointed out. "You helped." Elena added. "I couldn't have him running around chewing people while the town was looking for vampires, now, could I?" He said.

Oh here comes Damon, the vampire who pretends not to care. "It had nothing to do with you actually caring about him?" Elena asked. "Your thing not mine." he said, walking away. But I knew it wasn't true. Deep down I knew he cared for his brother. He can actually be very caring when he wants to be, but only when he wants to be which is not often.

I sighed and went to find Damon, Elena trailed behind me. I found him in the living room with the object that Pearl gave him. "Did you ever figure out what that is?" I asked, sitting beside him. Elena took the couch across from us. "Nope. Whatever it is, it doesn't work." He replied. "Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" Elena chimed in. "She thought she was stealing his vampire compass but that was the pocket watch. That Jonathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist. Have either of you spoken to your uncle lately?"Damon questioned.

"We've been avoiding him actually. That and we've been staying here most nights." Elena answered. "So you'll be here again tonight?" He wondered. "Is that a problem?" Elena asked. "Yes. you're a complete nuisance." She scoffed. "What about me?" I asked, curious. "A little less of a nuisance." He responded. I smiled. "See you later." he said walking out.

Elena and I headed home to get more clothes for the night. Elena dialed Damon to check up on Stefan. "Can you put it on speaker?" I asked her nicely. She nodded. "What?" Came Damon's voice on the other end. "We're just grabbing some clothes and then we'll be right over. " I chirped. "How's Stefan?" Elena asked, concerned. "Extra broody. Hold on." We waited for a moment before he came back.

"He won't eat anything." Damon informed us. "He has to eat. What's his favorite...kind of...um.." She looked at me for help. I looked at her confused and then I realized what she meant. You can call it twinepathy or whatever but I know my sister. "Seriously?" I told her. She shrugged in response. "What? His favorite kind of what?" Damon questioned. "Elena wants to know what Stefan's favorite type of...animal blood he prefers." I answered reluctantly. "Ew. Gross." Damon joked.

"Heh, your joking doesn't help." Elena remarked. "Helps me. Now hurry up. I can't baby sit all night. I have things to do." Damon said. "I would say drop dead but.." I chuckled. "Good one, Lena." I praised. "Ha ha. Stefan likes..puppy blood. Little golden retriever puppies with cute, floppy ears. That's his favorite." I covered my ears. "Stop it. Stop it." I whined.

Thankfully, Elena ended the call. We turned around to find Uncle John standing there. "Uncle John, we didn't see you there." I said, putting on a fake smile. "I thought we could talk. All three of us. We haven't had a chance to catch up." He said. "For good reason." i muttered. "We're actually just heading out so..." Elena said, trying to get us out of here.

"Well, it won't take long." John said not letting up. "What did you want to talk about?" I asked, trying to get this over with. "Well I know you know, so I'm assuming she knows too." He said looking at Elena. "Know what?" Elena questioned, feigning innocence. "it's really silly to keep pretending. What do you think your mother would say, if she knew you were dating a vampire?" John sneered.

Again with the parent guilt. Last time it made me almost break down but this time it made me mad. He has no right to use our parents over us. "Which mother?" i retorted, before storming out, Elena following close behind.

I sat on the couch waiting for Elena to come back up from the cellar. She finally came back up looking mopey as ever. "No luck?" I asked. She shook her head. She flopped own next to me. Damon came in and she explained what Stefan said.

"He's just being dramatic. He's not gonna starve himself." Damon said. "Why would he say that?" Elena wondered. "He feels bad about hurting Ava. It's a very typical martyr stuff. It will pass." Damon seemed almost sure of it.

"Will it? because he seemed to be in a lot of pain." Elena asked skeptically. "Yeah, that will pass too once he eats." Damon said. "She didn't mean physical pain." I pointed out. " I know what she meant. Look, are you gonna be okay here if i have to run out?I have to go to an errand with the teacher." Damon said. "The teacher? Alaric? Are you two friends now?" I piped up. "Ooh, you're making friends?" I chirped.

"I don't have any friends Elena." Damon said. I frowned. What about me? Damon seemed to notice my face and added :" Except for Ava of course." I smiled a little. "Then can I come with you?" I asked slowly. "No." He denied firmly. "What? Why?" I pouted. "Because it could be dangerous." I pouted at him with puppy dog eyes. I could already see him melting and falling for it. He groaned. "Fine." He agreed.

I smirked. I can be very persuasive when I want to be. "You should stay up here. You shouldn't be down there by yourself." Damon told Elena. "I'll be fine." Elena assured. "Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded. "You know... you're very trusting of him, given the circumstances." Damon said. "So are you otherwise you wouldn't be leaving." Elena pointed out. "We'll be back soon." Damon said guiding me out the door where Alaric was waiting by the car.

"She's coming with us?" he asked skeptically. "You try telling her no." Damon said. I smirked in pride and hopped in the car. They explained to me that they think they've tracked down Isobel in a little apartment in Grove Hill.

We arrived in front of the door. "This is the one here. The records show it was paid 3 months in advance." Alaric informed us. "This is where it gets tricky. I may or not be able to get in." Damon said. "Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?" Alaric wondered. "By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short term rentals and hotels are a bit of a gray area. You kind of gotta play it by ear." Damon explained.

"Heh. Could we not kill anyone tonight, please?" Alaric asked. "You mean, you just brought me for my company?" Damon teased. "No. That's why I'm here." I chimed in. Damon broke the lock and opened the door. "It doesn't look like anyone's home." Alaric said. Damon took a step in. "Yeah. I'm good. No permanent resident apparently." Damon said.

We ventured further into the house. "Uh Ric, we have company." i heard Damon say from the kitchen. I heard noises and went to go look but Damon held a hand up to tell me to stay there. "Boys, boys,that's enough. I know you." Damon said. I walked out and saw a man, I'm assuming vampire on the floor. "Damon?" He said. "Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb." Damon stated. "Yes, sir. What are you doing here?" Henry asked. This is awkward.

"So how do you know John Gilbert?" Henry asked. We were sitting in the kitchen chatting with Henry. "He's my uncle." I stated bitterly. "Well, I've known him for years. He's a good friend. How do you know him?" Damon asked. "I met him right after I got out of the tomb. He's been helping me out." Henry said. "Helping you out how?" Alaric asked. "Adapting. it's a whole new world...Cars, computers, . there's so much to learn. He helped me get this place." Henry responded.

"So do you live here alone or is there someone else?" Alaric said bluntly. I looked at him with a warning face. "that's my friend's very passive aggressive way of asking, uh, do you know a woman named Isobel?" Damon said.

"Uh no. No, I don't know an Isobel. I know John. He's my only real friend. He really showed me the ropes...how to use a microwave, separate my whites." Henry explained. Wow it must be hard welcoming an 1800's vampire to the 21st century. "What else do you do for him?" I asked.

"I help him keep an eye on things... you know with the others." He answered. "The others?" Damon questioned. "From the tomb. they're still mad at the founding families for trying to burn them alive. I'm cool but those tomb boys, they want revenge." Henry explained. "What does John want with them?" Alaric asked. "He's just trying to keep an eye on them you know? trying to make sure they stay out of trouble." Henry said.

"Well that's John. Heh. He's such a do-gooder." Damon said sarcastically. "More like a douche." I mumbled but Damon heard it. He grabbed my arm and I relaxed at his touch. Henry's phone starts ringing and he pulls it out.

"Heh. That's John now." Henry said. "Oh, hey. Let me talk to him. " Damon said. "All right. Yeah." Damon held the phone but just let it ring out. "Are you going to answer that?" Henry asked. "Am I gonna...answer that?" he asked me and Alaric. We shook our heads. I stepped behind Damon because i knew something was about to go down.

"What's going on?" Henry asked. He stood before lunging towards Alaric. Damon caught him and Alaric stabbed him with a stake. I shrieked in pain but it quickly went away. Damon looked to me and I nodded at him, letting him know I'm okay. "'Let's not kill anyone tonight.' Your words. Just pointing that out." Damon said to Alaric.

We searched the house for any clues or leads to follow but there was nothing. "Find anything yet?" Damon asked. I walked back to the room and shook my head. "No, I looked everywhere. the place is...The place is clean." Alaric wistfully. "Well, I found this. Behind the blood in the fridge." he handed Alaric a beer and gave me a water bottle. "Oh, man this was a real dead end." Alaric said.

"I wouldn't beat myself up over it, man. What did you think you think you were going to find huh? Isobel here with a cigar and slippers.?" Damon asked. "Oh, man. I gotta stop this. I can't.. keep searching for her." Alaric said rubbing his forehead. "Really? After only 2 years? That's actually-moderately healthy." Damon said. "Compared to you." I pointed out.

"Yeah, what are you going on? 146?" Alaric added. "Well, I figure the 200 mark is probably a good stopping point." Damon said. "Ahh. I mean, no answer is enough. I keep thinking I wanna know why, when. You know, the precise moment when my wife decided life with me wasn't good enough. "Alaric said sadly. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"She charmed me, your wife Isobel. She talked a good game, man. She was smart. She had this excitement in her eyes. I probably should have known there was something different about her, some tie to Katherine. there had to be some reason I didn't kill her." Damon said. Of course it all leads back to Katherine.

"That's enough, Damon. I don't wanna hear anymore. I just don't want to waste any more of my life. Searching for answers that I really don't want. I'm through with Isobel. I...I'm done with all of this." Alaric said walking away.

Elena was in the living room again writing when we walked in. "Ugh, God. You're still here?" Damon said. "Were you expecting anything else?" Elena asked. He sat down on the couch. I sat in between them lying my head on Damon's lap, and spreading my legs onto Elena's lap. Damon played with the strands of red in my hair.

"So, how was the errand?"Elena asked. "Futile." Damon answered. "But i think we witnessed Alaric having an existential crisis." I added. He nodded. "Has Stefan eaten yet?" He wondered.

"I thought you didn't care." Elena said. "Chalk it up into morbid curiosity." Damon said. "I think he's getting there. Bu the's got a lot of guilt to that he has to deal with. And it doesn't help that you've spent the last 145 years punishing him for Katherine caught." Elena snapped. "This is my fault now?" Damon asked. "No, it's no one's fault, Damon. I'm just saying that you're not exactly innocent. You've made it your life's mission to make him miserable." Elena said. Damon got up leaving my head to fall on the couch.

"Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul-searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story. " Damon asked. "He said there was more." Elena said. "Yeah, that's an understatement." Damon said walking off. "Damon." She said getting up leaving my legs to fall onto the couch. "Seriously." I groaned.

"Damon." Elena called again but he kept on walking. She turned to me and I sighed. "Damon." I said getting up and walking to him. I gently grabbed his arm and he looked at me. "Tell us. Please." I asked.

After Damon finished the story I was completely shocked. So Damon didn't want to be a vampire. And it was Stefan who made him turn. "From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person. I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride." Damon said. "Oh, my god. He said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but..." Elena said.

"His choice if he's stupid enough to make it so be it." I nudged him because i knew he was lying. He cared about Stefan whether he wanted to or not. "Don't do that, okay? Don't pretend like you don't care." Elena spoke what I was thinking. She started walking away. "Where are you going?" I asked. She headed in the direction of the cellar.

Elena ran out a little bit afterwards to go find and get Stefan. Damon and I were in the living room waiting. I sat next to him. "Why do you do that?" I asked. "Do what?" He said. "Pretend you don't care." I said. "What makes you think I do?" He smirked. "Because I know you do." I stated.

"Well i don't." He said. "Well do you care about me?" I said before I even processed what I was saying. He turned to look at me and i was pretty sure i was bright red. He was saved by answering when Elena came back in with Stefan by her side. I frowned, wanting to hear what he was going to say.

"Little boy lost." Damon said. "I'll be upstairs. Ok?" Elena said to Stefan. He nodded. "Goodnight, Damon." She said before walking upstairs. "I'm gonna head up too. See you both later." i said, walking away.

I was starting to get used to being in Damon's room. It was the biggest room and had the most comfiest bed so I didn't mind. I showered and changed into a pair of Damon's clothes. I climbed into his soft silky sheets and closed my eyes.


	21. Isobel

The Gilbert Twins Ch.21

Avalon's POV

"I'm supposed to help build the Miss Mystic Falls float for the Founder's Day parade. Since I bailed on the pageant, Caroline made me help. If I don't then I will face her wrath. Anyways Elena wanted me to check in." I said to Damon who i was on the phone with. "Well, I'm doing great. Thanks for asking." He said. I chuckled. "Check in on Stefan." I clarified.

"Oh, him? He's ...he's terrible." Damon replied. "What's the matter?"I questioned. "He's juts back to boring, straight laced, off the junk. Elena's officially cured him of anything that was interesting about his personality." Damon said. "You helped." I pointed out. "I hate myself." He joked. "So did Uncle John mention anything to you about our field trip with the history teacher?" Damon asked. "No, I've been avoiding him. why? What's he up to?" i asked.

"I don't know. But I would love for you to find out for me." He asked. " I kind of wanted to just avoid John till he left but I'll try. Anyways gotta go. If I'm late I'll be lectured by Car and I don't want to sit through that. Bye." I said. "Have fun with the Mystic Queen. I know I did." He was probably smirking. I rolled my eyes and hung up.

I rushed to school and met up with Stefan and Elena. "Hey guys." I said. They smiled at me as we entered the cafeteria. Alaric noticed us and approached us. "hey Mr. Saltzman." Elena said. "Come with me." He said, sounding urgent. They followed him but I hesitated. I glanced toward the table where Caroline and Bonnie were. i was supposed to help but this sounds urgent. "Sorry Care." I whispered and followed them to Alaric's classroom.

Alaric had called Damon after informing us with some startling news. "Damon, thanks for coming." Alaric said. "Sorry, I'm late. My dog ate my..." He stopped when he saw our faces. "What's with all the furrowed brows?" He asked. " I saw Isobel last night." Alaric explained."Isobel's here? In town?" Damon asked. Alaric nodded and Damon glanced towards me. I didn't do anything because i was too frozen in shock to do anything.

"Did you ask her about Uncle John? Are they working together?" Damon questioned. "No." Alaric answered. "No they're not?" Damon asked. "No, I didn't ask." Ric said. "What about the invention?" Damon wondered. "Didn't ask." Ric stated. "Did she know about the tomb vampires?" Damon asked, getting impatient. "I don't now." Alaric answered again. "Did words completely escape you?" Damon asked, irritated.

"No, i was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask questions." Alaric retorted. Damon turned to me. "What did she want?" he asked but I didn't answer. "She wants to see us Damon." Elena answered for me. "Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting. We don't know why or what she wants." Stefan explained. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to." Damon told me softly, never taking his eyes off me. Yet again, I didn't answer.

"We don't really have a choice." Elena said. "She's threatened to go on a killing spree." Alaric explained. "Oh. I take it that's not okay with you guys?" Damon said. "I want to do it. I want to meet her. If I don't I'll regret it." Elena said. "She asked for the both of you." Alaric said. They all turned to look at me. "Uhh, uhh I don't know... i need a minute." I said, rushing out of there. I heard Elena calling after me but I kept on walking, my hands shaking.

A hand grabbed my arm and I already knew who it was. "I don't know what to do." I said. I turned around to face Damon who seemed concerned. "You don't have to meet her if you don't want to." he said. "But she'll start killing people and then it will be my fault. It's just..." I looked down. His hand cupped my cheek and the warmth felt so nice. "What?" He asked. "I'm afraid." I said softly. "Of what?" He asked.

"I don't know. Meeting her? I just..It's just.. Ughhhh!" I groaned, frustrated. "Hey, it'll be fine. I'll be there and so will Stefan and Elena. If you want to bail just tell me and I'll get you out of there. Okay?" he said. "promise you'll be there?" i asked. "promise." he said. I nodded and leaned forward. I hugged him tightly. Damon was starting to become my rock. The only thing keeping me steady. And it was nice but I'm not so sure he felt the same way which makes moments like these, ones I have to cherish. He hugged me back.

"Sorry to break the moment but if you don't go back I think they'll send a search party." He said. i pulled back. "but don't they know I'm with you?" i asked. He gave me a look. "Right. Okay let's go." He left his arm around my waist and we walked back into the class room. "Ava." Elena said, acknowledging us. "I'll do it." I said. Alaric nodded. I looked and noticed Stefan staring at Damon's arm on my waist. I just shrugged it off because I was too nervous about his meeting.

Isobel chose the Mystic Grill as a meeting place. Elena and I sat down at a table. Stefan stood by the pool tables and Damon was by his usual place, the bar. Elena and Stefan were talking to each other so I turned to Damon. "Calm down." he mouthed. I didn't realize that i was shaking from nervousness. I closed my eyes and relaxed. "Thank you." I mouthed back to Damon. He smiled and I turned back to Elena.

A dark haired woman came and sat down. i'm assuming she was Isobel. "Elena and Ava, hello." She said. "You two look just like her, it's eerie." Isobel continued. "You've met Katherine?" I asked. "She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you girls." She answered. "Is that how you walk in the sun?" Elena asked. I looked at her chest to find a daylight necklace. "Katherine helped me obtain it." Isobel answered.

"Who's our father?" I wondered. "Not important. He was a teenage waste of space." She said coldly. "A name would be nice." I said. "It would wouldn't it? You ask a lot of questions." She said. "Why did you compel that man to kill himself? Right after he told me to stop looking for you." Elena questioned. "Dramatic impact. I wish it would have been more effective." Isobel explained.

"Human life means that little to you?" I asked. "Means nothing to me. It's just a part of being what I am." She said blankly. "No it's not. I know other vampires, that's not true." Elena stated. "You mean your new boyfriend over there by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore. Why Stefan? Ava got the funner brother. Damon Salvatore. You know you two are much more alike to Katherine than you think." She said. How dare she compare us to Katherine.

"Why did you want to meet us? Can't be just to catch up." I said. "Because I'm curious about you. But the real reason is: I want what your uncle wants. Jonathan Gilbert's invention." Isobel stated. "How do you know our uncle?" Elena asked. "I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about vampires." Isobel explained.

"So what made you want to be one?" Elena wondered. "It's a very long list of reasons, Elena. All of which I'm sure you've thought about." Isobel said. "No." Elena denied. "That was your first lie. It's inevitable, you're going to get old, Stefan won't. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human." She said. I saw Elena glancing at Stefan sadly.

"I'm sorry but we don't have what you're looking for." I said getting up and dragging Elena with me. I was stopped by Isobel gripping my arm tightly. i winced at the pain. "Let go of her." Elena said. "Sit down. And tell your boys to walk away." We looked to see Stefan and Damon had moved forward towards us. Elena nodded at Stefan to stand down. i looked to Damon who looked pretty mad.

"It's okay." I mouthed to him. Stefan whispered something to Damon and he stormed outside. I sighed. I wanted him here but I didn't want him to rip her head off..not just yet. We sat back down with Isobel. "I want the device."She said. "We already told you we don't have it." Elena said. "I know but Damon does and your gonna get it for me." She stated. "He's not gonna give it to me." Elena said. "No but he will give it to Ava." I shook my head. "Then the blood will be on both of your hands." She got up. "It was nice meeting you two girls." And she walked away. Elena was on the brink of tears. I didn't say anything and just ran out of there.

"Hey." I turned around and began crying into Damon's chest. He rubbed my back. "What happened?" He asked. I shook my head violently. "Please just take me to your house." I said. He nodded. "Mind if...?" "It's fine." I said. He held me and flashed back to the boarding house. He tucked me into his silky sheets and kissed my cheeks. He laid next to me for a while. "Can I sleep?" I asked softly. He nodded. I snuggled into his chest and went to sleep.

Damon's POV

As soon as I knew she was sound asleep, I gently slid off the bed and kissed her looked so peaceful in her sleep but her eyes were still red from crying. She didn't deserve all of this. I sighed. Now it was time to do some business. I found Isobel's house and was now playing strip-poker with Isobel's minion girl. And she was winning. Isobel arrived and walked into the room. "And it's just one blast from the past after another." She said. She told Cherie to leave the room. "It's good to see you Isobel. I was just having fun with your naughty little minion." I smirked.

"How did you find me?" She asked. I sped towards her and cornered her. "Searched for all the neighborhood bank owned foreclosures and found the most expensive one." I explained.

"Ohh. I should've known. You were the one who taught me that. What are you really doing here?" She asked. "Well you cause quite a stir. Blew into town, and saw everyone except for the man that made you. I'm a little hurt." I said leaning towards her. "I'm so sorry." She said but then she grabbed my hair and twisted my head. "Did you bring the device?" She demanded. She let me go. I rubbed the back of my head. "Ow. What are you doing with John Gilbert?" I asked.

"We dated a few times when we were young. He was a little bit in love with me." Isobel explained. "I'm sure. One of the many. Now, this little invention, what do you want with it?" I questioned. "Oh, me personally? I don't want anything with it. I'm just doing what I'm told. You know Damon we're on the same side." She said. She held my face with her hands.

"Oh yeah? What side is that?" i asked. "Katherine's. She wants John Gilbert to have the device and I think that you know that she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants." Isobel said.

"Why are you doing her dirty work?" I asked. "Don't kill the messenger. We both know that you can't control Katherine. She does what she wants." she answered. "So do I." i pointed out. "Oh really Damon?You do? What should we do now?" She leaned in closer and we kissed. Until I slammed her onto the floor and pinned her down.

"Now that I have your attention, listen up. You do not come into my town, threaten the people I care about. Going after Ava? Bad move. You leave her alone or I will rip you into bits because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? because it sends a message. Katherine wants something from me? You can tell that little bitch to come get it herself." I slammed her one last time before storming out of there.

Avalon's POV

I woke up to my phone buzzing like crazy. I turned to see Damon was gone. He must've had to do something. I got my phone and looked ta the caller ID. It was Elena. "Hey." i answered. "Ava, come to the school now." She said. "What? why?" i asked. "Bonnie has something to show us. She says it's important." Elena replied. "Alright I'll be there soon." I said, hanging up.

If Damon was here I could've asked him for a ride or a lift but I had to resort to running. Literally running all the way to school. I met Elena and Bonnie in an empty classroom. "So... what's... up...?" I said, out of breath. "I'm not sure." Elena answered. Bonnie brought out a large thick book. "Is that Emily's spell book?" i asked. "yeah, I've been going through it since Grams died. Check this out." She opened to a page with a drawing of the vampire compass we had.

"That's the vampire compass." Elena said. "Yeah, according to Emily,Jonathan Gilbert never actually succeeded in inventing anything. Emily secretly spelled them all with magic. Compass, rings, and the mystery device you told me about." She flipped through the pages showing us pictures of each of the items and finally landing on the mystery device. "Yeah. That's it. Well, a part of it. Damon only has the one piece." Elena explained.

"Emily pledged her loyalty to Katherine but she couldn't stand by and watch innocent people get killed. This was the only way she could think of to help. To let Jonathan Gilbert believe that he'd actually invented these devices." Bonnie told us. "Does it say what it does?" I asked. Bonnie began reading the page. "Are you sure this is what Isobel wants?" She asked when she was done. "Yeah, We're sure. Why?" Elena asked. "This is a weapon. Against vampires." My eyes widened. Uh oh.

As we were walking outside, Jeremy walked over to me and Elena. "Elena! Ava!" He yelled out approaching us. "Hey, have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked. "Or Damon?" I added. "We need to talk to them." Elena finished. "No not lately, listen do you have a second?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, what's up? What's going on?" I asked. "Well, it's Anna. I've left her all these messages and she hasn't gotten back to me, not even a text." Jeremy said, concerned. "Anna? I didn't know you guys were still friends." Elena said. "We're more than friends." My eyes widened in surprise. "Look, something could be seriously wrong and if you know anything you've got to tell me." Jeremy said.

"We haven't talked to her, Jer." Elena said. "Are you lying to me right now?" He suddenly asked. "Why do you say that?" She asked. "Cause that's what you do. You both lie. You lie about everything. I know what Anna is and I know that you know. So tell me, do you have any idea where she is?" Jeremy demanded.

"No, but Jer.." he started walking off. "Jeremy wait!" He continued walking. We turned around to come face to face with Isobel. "What are you doing here?" i asked. "I'm your mother, Ava. I want to be more involved in both of your lives." Isobel said. "We don't want you in our lives." i shot at her. "I understand that. You already have a lot of people that you care about but I've been studying. Let's see if I got this right." She turned and found Bonnie walking in the crowd.

"There is the witchy best friend, Bonnie. Gonna stay away from that one." She turned to Jeremy. "Oh...sad little brother Jeremy. " Isobel turned to face Caroline who was working on the float. "And there's Caroline...obnoxious Caroline. I got all my information from her by the way. She had no idea who I was and she wouldn't stop yapping. Ooh and there's Matt." He was under one of the floats working. "Friend, ex, yappy's future ex. Lots of connections there." Isobel said. "Matt's not involved in this." Elena said.

"He's involved with you isn't he?" She said. "Look, you shouldn't be here. You need to leave." I said. "No, I have some friends here too. Look, you see that man over there standing next to Matt by the float? His name is Frank, he's very handsome and he's also quite handy. He noticed that the axles are every rusty which is very dangerous. So all you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure and..."

We looked to see Frank jump on the float Matt was underneath and he cried out in pain. "No!" Elena shouted. Everyone rushed to his aid. "Why are you doing this?" I asked Isobel. "I'm showing you how easy it is to hurt the people you care about." Isobel explained. "And you're doing this just because of Jonathan Gilbert's invention?" Elena asked.

"Hand it over and all of this will stop." Isobel said. "I told you Damon won't give it to me." Elena repeated. "No, but like I said he will give it to Ava." I shook my head. "No he won't." I said. "I think you underestimate how much he cares about you." Isobel said. Was that true? "He'll kill you before he gives it up." Elena said.

"Is that before or after I kill your brother Jeremy?" We turned and searched the crowd for Jeremy. "Jeremy?!" Isobel flashed away. "Jeremy?!" Elena yelled again. Matt was being taken care of by Caroline and Tyler so Elena and I went to look for Stefan. We all met up in Alaric's classroom with Bonnie as well.

"Where is the device?" Bonnie asked. "Damon has it. He's going to be difficult to reason with." Stefan said. "We'll talk to him. Ava will talk to him." Elena said. i scoffed. "Why do I always have to talk to him?" I asked. "Because he listens to you." Elena reasoned. "He's not just gonna hand it over, especially if it's harmful to vampires." Stefan added in. "What if it's not?" Bonnie said. We all looked at her.

"Absolutely not." Damon said. We were at the Salvatore house explaining the plan to Damon. "Just hear us out." Elena said. "I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she could give it to John who is going to turn it to kill me. I like being a living dead person." Damon said. I chuckled at his words which earned a glare from Elena.

"But it'll be useless, Bonnie can take it's power away." I said, saying my part. "I don't trust her." He replied. "I can remove the original spell." Bonnie said confidently. "John and Isobel will never know." Elena added. "No, I'll get Jeremy my own way." Damon said, determined. "Really? How are you going to do that? Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk in the door." Stefan reasoned. Jeremy dead was not an option.

"Are you even up for this? I mean no offense, you're no Emily Bennett." Damon said to Bonnie. "I've been practicing." Bonnie defended. "it's not piano lessons, honey." Damon remarked. "What's your favorite book?" Bonnie asked. "What?" Damon asked. "Name a book, any book." Bonnie said. "Name a book...How about 'Call of the Wild' Jack London? Damon suggested.

Bonnie turned to the selves of books and chanted something. A book flew towards Damon and he caught it. He looked at the book. "Jack London. Great parlor trick." he said. "We're doing this, Damon. And we're doing it our way. Now give us the device. We're wasting time!" Elena snapped, impatient. "I don't trust you, I tried to kill you." Damon said to Bonnie.

"You're right, you can't trust me." Bonnie said. I stepped in front of Damon. "But you can trust me. Please, Damon." I pleaded. He stared at me before coming towards me. He took the device out of his pocket and grabbed my hand. He put the device in my hand but held his hand over mine for a lingering moment.

I smiled at him and placed other hand over his but let go after it was getting awkward for the others. I handed the device to Bonnie and stood next to Damon. "Thank you." I whispered in his ear. I held his hand and he gave me a small smile. I caught Stefan glancing over us yet again. What was his problem?

Bonnie opened Emily's spell book and began chanting. The lights flicker for a bit and then it stopped. "Done." Bonnie stated. She gave the device to Elena. "Great, now what? Damon asked. "Now we give it to Isobel." Elena said.

Elena and I were in Mystic Falls square waiting fro Isobel. "Where is the device?" We turned to see Isobel had arrived and was standing in front of us. "Where is our brother." I asked. "This isn't a negotiation. Where is the invention?" She repeated. "Where is our brother?" Elena pressed. "Do you really think I came alone?" Isobel said. We turn around to see two of her goons or minions behind us. "Did you really think we came alone?" Elena said. Damon and Stefan arrived behind Isobel. This was becoming a showdown.

"For gods sake, call home." Isobel said. "What?" Elena asked. "Call home and ask to speak to your brother Jeremy." Isobel elaborated. I looked to Elena who started dialing his number. After a little bit she turned back to us and nodded at me. "You were never gonna hurt him." I said. "No, I was going to kill him. Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any." She stated.

But you took a risk with Damon. How did you know that he was gonna give it to Ava?" Elena asked. "Because he's in love with her." Isobel stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I'm sure I turned bright red. And I started looking anywhere but Damon. Was this true? Could he feel the same way? No way, he's still hung up on Katherine isn't he? Or maybe not? So frustrating.

After a long moment of silence, I finally decided to say something. "Thank you." I said. "For what?"Isobel wondered. Elena stepped up with me and held my hand. "For being such a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of our real mother perfectly intact." Elena finished for me. I smiled at our twinepathy and our sisterhood.

Isobel grinned and turned to me. "i wonder if she would be so kind to you if she knew how you felt." She said. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What?" I asked. She smirked. "A few days after I came into town, I visited the cemetery. And I came across a little letter buried just beneath the ground." She held out a little letter folded in half and I instantly recognized it. My eyes widened. And Elena look to me confused. "That was a long time ago." I said.

"Not long enough. I read it all by the way. I wonder how Elena would feel if she saw it. " I had a horrified expression on my face which she laughed at. "Don't worry sweetie, I'l keep your secret." She said. Isobel threw the letter at me and I caught it. "Goodbye Ava. Goodbye Elena." She said. She paused for a moment. "As long as you both have a Salvatore on each arm, you are doomed. Katherine was smart. She got out. But we all know that you're not Katherine."

Isobel took one last look at us and left. Elena immediately went to Stefan and they hugged. I stood in my place and skimmed through the letter, recognizing every single word that I wrote. Tears brimmed my eyes and I felt arms circle around me. I sank to the floor in Damon's embrace and broke down crying. "Ava? What was she talking about?" Elena's voice came from behind me. I didn't answer.

"Ava?" She asked again. "Damon... please...get me...out of...here." I choked out. He nodded and flashed me out of there. I was in his room and my legs gave out. I was on the floor bawling my eyes out and Damon's arms encircled me again. I leaned into his chest. "Damon..." I cried. "I..I can't...It's just..." I couldn't talk without breaking down. "Shhh, it's okay." He said soothingly, stroking my hair.

I starting shaking my head violently and screaming. I couldn't take all the drama and lies. And this town and this life. "Ava." Damon said. "Ava!" He yelled but i couldn't stop. I just continued screaming my head off and shaking. Suddenly, I stopped when Damon's lips crashed into mine. The screaming stopped and the pain was gone for a moment. i just focused and Damon and how he made me feel.

We kissed passionately as the tears fell from my face. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "I'm sorry." i whispered. "It's okay." He said. I tried to stand up but I was still a bit unstable so I almost fell back down. Damon caught me. "I got you." he said carrying me onto his bed. He lied down next to me and I snuggled into his chest as he rubbed my hair soothingly. I took the letter which was soaked in my fallen tears and handed it to him.

"You don't have to." he said. I didn't say anything and just held out the letter for him to take but he still didn't grab it. I looked into his eyes and saw a bit of hesitance and concern. I nodded at him and put the letter in his hands. As he read it, I closed my eyes and dreamed. Eventually I drifted off to sleep.

Damon's POV

I finished reading the letter. I looked over to Ava, little sweet innocent Ava who has been through so much. She opened up to me when she gave me the letter. I had to respect that so I put the letter back into her hand. I heard a noise downstairs and knew it must be Stefan. I slowly laid Ava back onto the pillow and flashed downstairs. I decided to pour myself a scotch as Stefan walked in.

"Would you like one? Say it, whatever it is, purge, get it out." I told him. "But keep it down because Ava is sleeping upstairs." I added. "it's about what Isobel said." He replied. "Sorry Stefan. I'm not in the position to disclose anything." I told him. "Not that. The other thing...I know that you and Ava have bonded and I know that she cares about you and you care about her." Stefan said.

"Well this is going in an interesting direction." I said. "I'm just concerned about Ava getting hurt. She's my friend and I know that she considers you has her friend too, possibly best friend." He said. " Same here, Ava is a very good friend. Actually she might qualify as my only friend. Is that a problem?" I asked.

"No, I just want what's best for her." he said. "I want that too." I answered. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Stefan questioned. "Sure. Sure." I said nonchalantly. He sped in front of me. "Do you understand?" He asked. "Whatever you say man, I mean honestly we're just friends." Except for the kiss we just had.

"Oh and I wasn't looking forward to telling the twins the truth so I'll let you tell Elena." I said. "What truth?" He asked. "About John. Because I know you guys don't like to keep secrets from each other. But I'll tell Ava since she is a little fragile at the moment." i said.

"What are you talking about? Stefan asked, completely clueless. "Am I the only one around here who has the ability to put two and two together? Isobel! Hello? She dated John when she was 15; she gets pregnant and ends up at the doctor's office of John's brother. Now what do you think John's role is in all this? I mean, go ahead, and think about it, I'll wait. Did you get it? You there yet?" I rolled my eyes at his disability to figure things out.

"So you think that John is their father?" Stefan said, finally getting there. "Ding, ding, ding!" I mocked. "What proof do you have?" Stefan questioned. "I don't need any proof. That's a DNA test for John, , Elena, and Ava to deal with but I know how well you deal with these bombs so ...Sleep tight."And i left the room.

I lied back down next to Ava and she stirred in her sleep. "Damon" She said groggily, eyes fluttering open. "Yeah, shh go back to sleep." I said. "okay, night Damon." She said closing her eyes. "Night Ava." I kissed her forehead and wrapped an arm around her waist. I stared at her for a bit before going to sleep.


	22. Founder's Day

The Gilbert Twins Ch.22

Avalon's POV

I woke up and looked over to see Damon lying next to me. I felt his arm around my waist. I slowly turned my body so that I was facing him. "Morning." I said.

"Sleep." He mumbled. "It's 8am in the morning." "Exactly." He said. I sat up and started shaking him. He groaned. "Why are you up so early?" He asked. "Today's the founder's day parade." I explained. "I'm helping set up and all that stuff. And you're going too since Stefan is on the float." I added.

"So get up." I jumped off the bed and pulled him up. "Fine." He sped to the restroom and came back out changed in his clothes. "That's cheating." I stated. I changed into my clothes and walked back into the room. Damon was sitting there on the bed and I sat beside him.

"Are we gonna talk about it?" I asked. "About?" He said. "What happened yesterday." I said quietly. "What about it?" He asked. "Well, first Isobel said you loved me and I don't know whether to believe it or not. Second, we kissed." I said. "Well, what do you think about it?" He countered.

"Seriously? You're turning my own question back on me?" I asked. "Yes. I will answer once you answer first." He stated. I sighed. "I think I'm confused. You love Katherine. You made that pretty clear when you first came to town. And then came what Isobel said and I'm just confused and lost." I said, honestly. He looked at me for a good moment before leaning in and kissing me again.

He pulled back and i looked at him bewildered. "We'll talk about this later." He promised. "Will we?" I asked. "Yes." He answered. I nodded and he drove me to the high school where everyone was busy with the preparations. I went over to help Caroline with the float for a while before meeting back up with Stefan and Damon. I was doing my best to avoid Elena because I was sure she was going to ask questions.

"You're right, they're not." I heard Stefan say as I approached. "Not what?" I asked but they were distracted. I followed their gaze to Elena who was in her 1800's attire. She probably looked exactly like Katherine with the dress and the curly hair. I looked to Damon who seemed lost in a memory. I knew he wasn't over her. I looked down and frowned.

"Ava!" She said. Elena walked closer to us and i stepped behind Damon a bit, using him as a wall. I saw her frown but luckily Stefan saved the scene. "Elena can we talk?" He asked. She nodded sadly and Stefan exchanged looks with Damon who nodded and then they left.

I was left with Damon who seemed anxious and Damon does not do anxious. "What's wrong?" I asked. He didn't say anything. "Damon, I know something's up. Whatever it is you can tell me." I said. "Okay so I figured out who your birth father is." He stated.

My eyes widened and my eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Who is it?" I asked. "John Gilbert." He stated hesitantly. My face fell. I felt the tears stinging in the back of my eyes. "Ava?" Damon asked, voice laced with concern. I stumbled back and ran. "Ava!" He yelled after me.

He sped in front of me. "Damon..please...i need a moment." I pleaded. He didn't budge. I grabbed his arm and looked into his eyes. "Please." I begged. He nodded slightly and moved aside. I ran far away to a tree and started crying.

How did my life get this messed up. The parents I grew up with were amazing until the day I lost I learned they weren't really my real parents? Turns out my real birth mother was a psychotic murderous bitch and my uncle is my real birth father? I never liked John. No one has and now he's supposed to be my father? No this is all too much. I wanted Damon to comfort me and soothe me because he has that effect on me but I can't deal with knowing he loves someone else. I can't deal with all this. I stayed in my place and cried and cried.

Damon's POV

After she ran off, I looked for her everywhere but didn't find her. I stopped and decided she needed some time alone but I was still worried about her. The parade was over and I was sitting in the Mystic Grill when Elena came out in her modern clothes.

"I like you better like this. The period look, it...doesn't suit you." I told her. "Is that an insult?" She wondered. "Actually it is a compliment of the highest order." I stated. "Look I know Stefan is worried about your friendship with Ava." She said.

"Did he mention something to you?" I questioned. "No did he mention something to you?" Elena asked. "Nothing worth repeating." I said. "So, I think you should stop with the flirty comments and the eye thing you guys do." Elena said. "What eye thing?" I asked.

"Don't make me regret trusting you." She said and walked off to where Jeremy was. I took the liberty of eavesdropping on her conversation. "I don't believe that we can't fix this. Ava and I lied, we were wrong. But you're our brother and we love you and we have to fix this. So just tell me what we can do?" Elena pleaded to Jeremy.

"You and Ava can go to hell, Elena." Jeremy stormed off. The nerve of that kid, how could he be so rude to Ava? I followed him out to the town square. "I have so many emotions, but I don't have any way to express them. Being a teenager is so hard." I mocked.

"You're a dick!" He said. "You do not talk to me like that. I am not your sisters. And from now on, you don't talk to or about your sister's that way either."I warned him "So you're gonna kill me because I hurt their feelings?" He asked.

"Cut them some slack." I stated. "They erased my memories." Jeremy shouted. "No I did! They were trying to protect you. Ava was even against it but she knew it was the right thing to do for you." I defended. "It wasn't their call to make." He was about to leave but I grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Let go of me before I cause a scene." he threatened. "You'll be unconscious before you even got a word out." I warned. "Let him go." Stefan arrived at the scene. I released my hold on Jeremy and Stefan stepped in between us. "Are you alright?" he asked the little punk.

"Yeah." Jeremy answered. "What my brother is trying to say is, don't blame your sisters for this. Damon turned Vicki, I killed her. She was a threat to you and a threat to them. I'm sorry that it happened, I wish it didn't." Stefan said, trying to do damage control.

"You shouldn't have made me forget." Jeremy repeated before walking off. "Good cop, bad cop. I like it." I smirked. "What are you doing?" Stefan sighed. "He was being a punk." I stated. "Elena and Ava's relationship with their brother is none of your business. So stay out of it!" He scolded me.

"Oh, there's only one do-gooder role available. My bad. I'm sorry." I said sarcastically. He laughed mockingly. "Get over yourself. We both know you're not doing this for the right reasons." Stefan pointed out.

"You see there you go again with the protective brotherly act. What are the right reasons? Enlighten me please!" I rolled my eyes. "Well, see Damon, it's only real when it comes from your desire to do the right thing for nothing in return, and i know that it is a completely foreign concept to you. I completely understand that you wouldn't get it." Stefan said.

There was a long pause before Stefan spoke up again. "So where is Ava? I expected her to be with you and I haven't seen her since this morning." He asked. "Well, she didn't take the news about John too well and kind of ran off." I said hesitantly.

He looked at me worriedly. "Don't worry, I'll find her. She just needs some time." I assured. "Maybe but as much as i hate to say it, I think she needs you." He said before walking away. I sighed and headed off to look for Ava.

It was nightfall and i was looking everywhere when I bumped into Anna. "You're still around?" I asked her. "There's something you need to know. The vampires from the tomb are planning an attack tonight." She stated.

"How do you know this?" I questioned. "I went to them. They think I'm with them but I'm want the founding families dead." Anna explained. "When is this supposed to happen?" I asked.

"When the fireworks start." She replied. "John Gilbert intends to use that invention on them." I told her/ "Then we can't be here." She shouted. "It doesn't work it's been deactivated." I stated. "Well, then a lot of people are going to die." Anna said. "Where are they right now?" I wondered. "They're already here Damon." She said.

After what Anna informed me, I went to Ric and told him to get his gear. I needed to find Ava now. But first I had to inform Stefan about this. I found them walking and linked arms with Elena.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "Saving your life. Fifteen words or less...Tomb vamps are here, Founding families are their targets." I explained and turned to Stefan. "Get her out of here now!" I said. "What about Ava?" Elena asked worriedly. "I got her." I said and walked off.

Avalon's POV

I stayed in my place until night fell. I cried and cried until I stopped myself. I just stared out into the darkness. I heard a twig snap and leaves rustling. I felt numb, otherwise I would've reacted. Out of the bushes Damon popped out. He just stared at me for a bit.

Then, he bent down and wiped the tears that ran down my cheeks. "Listen, there are tomb vampires here so we need to get you out of here okay?" I looked away and wiped my eyes. I nodded and he pulled me up and we ran back into the town square.

Damon suddenly stopped running and I almost crashed into him. "What's wrong?" i asked. He turned to face me. "i need you to go find Stefan and stay with him and Elena." he said. I shook my head. "No what about you?" I asked. "I'll be fine. Please just go." He said. I shook my head.

He took my face into his hands. "Ava, please go." He pleaded. I looked away and nodded. Damon went off in another direction. I took a deep breath and ran off after him.

Just as I reached the building I found Damon dropping to the ground, clutching his head. I immediately rushed over to him but instead I dropped to the ground beside him too. I screamed and barely register that John was there watching. He seemed shocked but recovered and walked towards me.

He brought out a syringe and injected me with it, assuming I was a vampire. "No!" Damon yelled. I didn't pass out from the vervain which John noticed so he just hit me. He knocked me out in one fell punch. The last thing I heard was Damon shouting.

Someone was shaking me. I heard someone whispering my name. I woke up to an intense heat and Damon peering over me worriedly. "Damon?" I said groggily. I looked around and saw that I was in a burning building with others. I finally recollected the memories of what happened. John who was supposedly my father knocked me out and put me here thinking i was a vampire.

"Hey, you alright?" Damon answered. I nodded. "You weren't supposed to follow me. Now look where you got yourself." he said in a serious tone. "I would've felt it anyways and then one of the deputies would've thrown me in here." I pointed out. "I couldn't let you go alone." I added.

"Still, you could've gotten to safety." he continued. I groaned in frustration. "Don't you get it Damon? I will never leave you!" I shouted but that led to me getting really dizzy. His eyes widened in shock but then turned soft. "Take it easy." He said. I nodded. "Damon..." I was cut off by his lips smashing into mine. I was shocked for a second but eventually started to kiss back.

I then pulled away after a bit and looked down. "Damon... I care about you but I know you still love Katherine." I said. He opened his mouth to protest but I quickly stopped it. "It's okay, I get it. We'll talk about this when we're hopefully not about to die." i said. He nodded and tried to get up but a beam fell down in front of him.

"Damon!" I yelled. He avoided it and landed beside me. I clutched his arm and began coughing violently because of the smoke fumes. I started getting dizzy and couldn't stop coughing. "Ava?" Damon's voice rang in my head. My head was spinning and I could barely keep my eyes open.

"Damon..." I couldn't finish the sentence as i passed out.

Damon's POV

I shook her to try and wake her up. "Ava? Ava? Damnit." I spit out. The fire was spreading quick and if we didn't get out of here, Ava was going to die.

Luckily, Stefan came in. "Damon?" He yelled. "Over here." I said. He came and looked at Ava. "Help her." i said. He nodded and picked her up. He also held me and sped out of there as fast as he could. "Oh my god! Ava!" Elena's voice came. I landed on the floor coughing and looked beside me to see Ava still unconscious. I quickly regained my strength and carried her and ran out of there despite hearing Stefan's protests.

I laid her down on her bed gently. I bit into my wrist and fed it to her. "Come one Ava drink." She started to drink and then pulled away when she got enough. "Damon?" She said softly. "Shh, rest. You need sleep." She slightly nodded and closed her eyes again. I kissed her forehead before going into Jeremy's room.

I talked to the little Gilbert about Anna dying and asked if he wanted his memories to be erased. I guess I was trying to do a good deed which is so unlike me. He denied and I left the room.

I walked outside onto the porch and Elena walked up. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "Failed and Feeble attempt at doing the right thing." I said. "Which was...?" She wondered.

"Not important. Let me take that for you." I said, helping her put her dress and bag down. "Thank you." she said. "You know, I came into this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen? I'm not a hero, I don't do good. It's not me."I admitted.

"Maybe it is." She said. "Nah, that's reserved for my brother, and you, and Ava, and Bonnie... who even though as every right to hate me, still helped Stefan save me." I stated. "Why do you sound so surprised?" Elena asked.

"Because she did it for you. I know you did it for your sister but I just wanted to say thank you." I said honestly. "You're welcome." She replied. I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She stared at me for a moment before leaning in and kissing me.

I was taken aback for a moment before pushing her away. "What the hell Elena! What was that?" I shouted. We were interrupted by Jenna opening the door looking very strict. "Hi..." Elena said. "It's late you should probably come inside." She looked to me for a second before taking her stuff and heading inside, leaving me on the porch. What the hell just happened?

Elena's POV

"I looked everywhere. Yeah, someone definitely took my stuff. I'm just gonna check on Jeremy and Ava before I go to the hospital. Can you meet me there? Okay, love you Stefan." I hung up the phone and entered my house. "Jeremy? Are you up?" I shouted up the stairs. I heard a strange noise in the kitchen and walked towards it.


End file.
